I Felt You In My Legs
by boomendeh
Summary: Completely AU.  Emily is alone in a new city and meets Naomi under some accidental circumstances.  First fic.  We'll see how it goes.  Please review.
1. Chapter 1

As she tried to increase her speed, her legs didn't scream at her as she was expecting, but they became heavy. Instead of her lungs stinging, something in her just roared at her to stop and sit down and end this thing that was Emily desperately trying to breathe life into…her life. Despite that, she kept going. She distracted herself by watching the soccer games going on around her. She missed it so much. It used to be her solace, her identity, losing herself in that game. She loved it. It was different for her. While many of her friends would rejoice in practice getting cancelled, she always wanted to be there. Always wanted to play. It was her passion. She lost that fire for it after a while, but she still loved it. More than she missed the actual game, though, she missed the spark. If she knew anyone in this city, maybe she would join a team or something. Try to reignite whatever she lost. She needed to do something other than work at the coffee shop and get smashed after with the strange people she worked with. She felt like she was floating through her life. She felt numb.

"Heads up!"

Emily whipped her head around to see what the commotion was, and had no time to react as a ball slammed into the side of her face, much harder than she could have anticipated. She immediately fell to the ground.

"Oh shit, shit, shit! I'm so sorry! Are you ok?"

Emily's vision blurred and the side of her head stung a bit, but she immediately began mentally checking off signs that she was okay – count to ten, sky is still blue, fingers able to wiggle. She slowly sat up and felt a throb in her head and a sharp pain in her lip. "Jesus…"

Immediately, her eyes were drawn to the girl running towards her. In part because of her temporary fuzzy mind and in part because of the section of her brain belonging to a teenage boy, she slowly trailed her eyes up the long legs of the culprit, over the slim and athletic body, to sharp blue eyes full of concern. _I wonder if she plays soccer. She'd have to, to be able hit me in the face that hard. Quite a leg on that girl. Legs actually. Ugh. Shut the fuck up,_ _Emily, you just got hit in the face. Stop thinking so much. And stop staring at her, for Christ sake!_

The girl knelt down with a concerned look still present on her face. Emily continued to stare, slightly confused and completely unable to look away. The girl seemed to be looking back just as determinedly.

"Is she ok Nai?" As if snapped out of a trance, the girl shakes her head and suppresses a slight eye roll that doesn't go unnoticed by Emily. "Are you ok?" the girl asks, looking guilty. Emily, despite the pain she is in, releases sort of grunt, focusing mostly on the sound of the girls voice and the way her lips move as the words come out. The girl just stares questioningly at her, looking even more worried.

"I mean, yes. Yes, I think so." _Get it together_.

The girl reaches forward and gently touches Emily's face, just below her lip. Emily is immediately hit with a swooping sensation in the pit of her stomach and notices the girls bright blue eyes widen slightly, as she moves her hand away quickly. Emily smirks the slightest bit, and immediately regrets it as she feels, what she assumes, is a cut on her lip stretching open.

"Ah, careful. Your lip looks really bad. You are bleeding quite a bit."

"Really?" Emily reaches up and feels warm liquid on her chin and is surprised as she looks down and sees red stains on her shirt. "How the hell did that happen? I didn't get hit that hard did I?"

"Yeah…sorry about that…I was trying to hit my boyfriend and he dodged it. You were the unfortunate victim instead. Are you ok to get up? I mean you seem a little dazed."

"Oh, no I'm fine really. Just apparently bleeding profusely, heh." She attempts to smile with just one side of her mouth, and then realizes she probably looks like a complete tit. The girl just chuckles and gives her a huge smile, seeming convinced that she is okay.

"Let's get you cleaned up. I think the ball hit you in just the right place to hit your teeth. I hope you don't need stitches. God, I'm such an ass!"

Emily was about to assure her that she held no grudge when a tall brown haired guy came bounding behind this beautiful girl with a water bottle and an extra shirt. "Here, let me help." He had, what Emily thought looked like a guilty look on his face. He also strangely reminded her of her a giant puppy after it peed on the carpet.

"Thanks, but I'll just take her to the bathroom. Why couldn't you just stand still you idiot? It was your punishment, you were supposed to grin and bear it."

"Well, Naomi, you can't blame me. Your shots hurt. Look what you did to this poor girl. It was a knee jerk reaction!"

"Just go wait for me over there Matt." Head down and looking defeated, he slouched back to where she pointed and Naomi grabbed Emily's hand, helping her up. They headed towards the restrooms on the other side of the park.

She let out a mumbled "Ass hat" as they walked.

Emily, who had been watching the exchange with a dazed amusement, and silently following the mystery girl willingly, giggled at this.

The girl, or Naomi, as Emily had gathered, turned to scowl at her, and immediately broke into a wide grin. Emily once again felt the unfamiliar swooping feeling in her stomach. As they entered the bathroom, Emily realized that she had just willingly allowed this complete stranger to lead her across the entire park, hand in hand, into a bathroom after she mutilated her face and couldn't even muster up any anger or awkwardness. She didn't usually talk to strangers very easily, though, to be fair, they really hadn't talked. But she felt oddly comfortable with this girl.

As Naomi leaned over the sink with shirt the dog-boy had given her to wet it, Emily looked at her a little closer. She had very long, toned legs that Emily knew belonged to someone who played soccer regularly, or at least worked out. She wore blue athletic shorts and a wife beater over a black sports bra. Her bright blonde hair was pulled into a messy ponytail and a few stray curls fell on the back of her neck, which was gleaming with mild perspiration from the heat. Emily could not tear her eyes away from the girl's neck, until they slowly glided down her arms, which were flexing as she strained to wring out the now soaking wet shirt the guy had given her.

As Naomi turned around, Emily blushed bright red and turned her eyes down towards her blood-stained shirt. _Shit._ She thought._ This is Jackie's shirt. _ Her recently flushed mind, struggling to focus on anything but the girl, clung to this bit of information and went into overdrive.

"Are you okay…um…sorry, I didn't catch your name…?"

"Its Emily. And yeah, its just, this just isn't my shirt and I was supposed to give it back to her tomorrow because apparently ex-girlfriends don't like it when you keep all their favorite clothes and now I've gone and bled all over and she's going to be a bitch about it and…" _Shit. What is wrong with me? Stop blabbering like an idiot for two seconds. _ She just let a heavy sigh out, closed her eyes and unconsciously licked the wound on her lip slowly, calming herself down.

She looked up at Naomi who was staring at her cut lip with a look in her eyes that Emily couldn't quite place, biting her lip in what Emily thought was the sexiest way possible. _Stop stop stop. First you can't stop talking and now you cant shut off the hormones. Breathe you twat._

Naomi, seeing Emily looking at her, once again seemed to come out of a trance. She cleared her throat, and finally spoke, interrupting what had become a somewhat tense silence. "Look, I feel really bad about this. Matt and I were just playing this stupid game and I won and he agreed that I got to peg him with the ball, but the stupid pansy dodged it last-minute and, well, you were there for the rest. Fuck! I'm sorry. Let me do something to make it up to you. Let me get you a new shirt! Or have it dry-cleaned! I'll explain it to your girlfriend or…"

"Ex."

"What?"

"She's my EX-girlfriend. And she'll be a bitch regardless. I think my head just fuzzy. I didn't mean to freak out. I tend to ramble. It's just a stupid t-shirt. You really don't need to do anything. Its really not that big of a deal. Sorry"

"Oh, well, thank you so much for apologizing for this horrible ordeal _you've_ have put _me_ through. You have put me in the terrible position of smacking your face. How dare you." Naomi held a faux-angry look on her face for as long as she could before a smirk overtook her. Emily could not help but smirk back at the girl, who was blatantly mocking her.

"yeah, well, I know it is tough for you. I would be devastated destroying a beautiful face like this. Your guilt is probably running rampant." Naomi giggled.

"Trust me, it's far from destroyed." Naomi looked a little surprised at the comment, and through her blush, recovered her composure.

"Seriously, though. Is there anything I can do?

Emily grinned at how cute she was being. _I think she just called me pretty. Or at least told me my face wasn't destroyed… Is she flirting with me? No you idiot. She is straight. And taken. Don't be stupid._ "Hello? You ok Ems?" The voice along with the nickname broke her out of her inner ranting.

"uh..yeah, sorry. Um. How about just a drink? We can call it even?"

Naomi smiled, laughter mixed with that look, again, that Emily couldn't quite place. "That would be lovely."


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own skins.**

After running around her apartment while getting ready to go and meet Naomi for drinks, Emily finally convinces herself to sit down. She still has two hours before meeting Naomi and is already completely ready. Emily has been on edge since leaving the park earlier that afternoon. She needs to calm down.

She sits down to her kitchen table in front of her crappy easel and starts to paint. She has been painting, very poorly, for a few years now, usually to relax a bit, or when she is just bored. She knows she isn't very good by any stretch of the imagination, but she mostly does it for her own peace of mind. Something about taking color, and putting it together, molding it and looking at what she gets, makes her relaxed. She definitely needs that right now. She rarely produces anything that would ever be called a "work of art" but every now and then she ends up with something that she enjoys knowing she made. She can't really be bothered about whether anyone else likes them.

She focuses on the brush strokes; the way the blue and red paint slide over each other. At certain points, no matter how she wants them to stay separate, they meld together and form a thin layer of a darker purple. As most of her excursions into painting go, she wasn't planning it, but after staring at it frustrated for a few minutes, it seems to become the part she likes most.

An hour later, she is significantly calmer and has even managed to keep paint off of her clothes, though she thinks she might have gotten some red in her hair. However, the colors are similar enough that she can't even tell, so she puts it out of her mind. As she heads to the sink to clean up, she begins thinking about Naomi. She is not naïve enough to think that her feelings about the girl are solely platonic, but she has to admit that she is eager to just have the girl as a friend. And aside from any feelings she has, all she can really think about at the moment is getting to know her. She wants to know everything about her. She needed a friend she could just talk with; hang out with. Katie was constantly busy with work and her friends from work didn't talk as much as they got hammered every time Emily hung out with them. It was fun, but she didn't know any of them very well. She was alone most of the time these days, and while she didn't necessarily mind it, she wouldn't mind a change.

Finally heading towards the address Naomi gave her, Emily's nerves began to get the better of her once again. She was getting frustrated at this reaction she had. She had stopped being this nervous when talking to people around her third year of University, and could chat with anyone without getting very flustered nowadays. She didn't even feel very awkward when the situation called for it. She wasn't a teenager anymore. She understood herself. She had accepted and even came to love her sexuality. She knew who she was and she rarely pretended for anyone. But now, all of the sudden, she was worried about what this one girl thought of her. Suddenly, she is concerned about making a jackass of herself; of sounding idiotic; of liking things that Naomi may find stupid or shallow.

As she rounded the corner onto the street she was headed for, she saw the pub. And the swooping sensation she had earlier in the day nearly knocked her over, causing her to stop where she was and stare.

In front of the building, leaning against the wall, smoking, was Naomi. The light from the street lamp cast a shadow on the side of the blonde's body that was facing Emily, while her face was looking towards the sky, her mouth exhaling a slow stream of smoke upwards. The light from the lamp flooded her features. She looked like she was glowing and it was the only thing Emily could think of for an undetermined amount of time, as she watched the smoke escape her perfect lips and disappear in the air above her. She didn't even usually like smokers, but she could watch Naomi smoke for hours. Finally Naomi turned towards her and broke into a huge grin, as she threw the cigarette on the ground. Emily managed to collect herself in time and give a small wave, immediately realizing she was flailing her arm around much more than she had meant to. _Christ! At the very least, try to keep control of your limbs!_

As they walked towards each other, Emily couldn't help but notice that, as they reached a mid-point, their feet halted very swiftly. But it was as if each of their momentums had willed them to continue forward. They each leaned infinitesimally forward after their feet had stopped, swaying faintly. It was so slight and so slow, she was sure Naomi hadn't noticed anything, but she was suddenly reminded of something she vaguely recalled from a physics class she took long ago. Maybe it was about magnets, or theoretical physics, or something to do with space. But at that moment she felt like she was part of some universal force. She felt like she was a magnet or a planet, simply following a basic and undeniable law of physics.

As quickly as the feeling was there, it was gone. _OK, try to keep your mind in this universe and stay out of your head. She is going to think you are crazy. _Emily felt the need to fill the silence. "Hey," her voice came out a little more gravely than she had intended.

"Hey," Naomi then made a noise that seemed to be a combination of letting out a breath she had been holding and a laugh. "Sorry if I smell like smoke. I don't usually smoke, but every once in a while…" She trailed off, blushing slightly, and asked the obvious but apparently necessary question "Do you wanna head inside?" Emily smiled at a nervous looking Naomi and nodded.

They made their way over to a booth, sitting on opposite sides of table, each smiling, neither seemingly able to tell why. "So this is Keith's pub…I know it doesn't seem like much, but I know the guy who owns it. And my best friend works here, so I come here a lot. We can go somewhere else if you want to though. I mean if you would rather…I know its not much, it's just the first place I thought of and I just…"

"Naomi," Emily heard the girl quickly working herself into a flurry over nothing. "This is fine, really. How about you get me that drink you owe me, huh?" She sends a smile towards the blonde, who once again turns pink, and nods in agreement.

"What would you like then?"

"How about just a pint?" Naomi looks a little shocked, but smirks and slides out of the booth, heading towards the bar.

As she returns, Emily's mouth drops open as she sees what Naomi is carrying. She is holding two giant glasses filled to the brim with lager. "Um…Naomi, I said a pint…that is like…four pints in one…" Naomi merely looks down at her challengingly.

"Well, actually, these are both yours. So it is more like eight. I didn't want to have to go back up later. I have to go back and get mine. Unless, of course, you aren't up for it Ems." Emily is shocked as the possible-flirtatious Naomi reappears. She smirks at the challenge, knowing she can't back down.

"I am merely looking out for you. I know you don't know much about me, but if there is one thing I enjoy, it is beer. I just hope you can keep up."

Naomi laughs. "I'm sure you won't let me fall too far behind."


	3. Chapter 3

**Naomi**

Naomi could not account for how she got to where she was sitting at this moment.

She was sitting at Keith's, in front of this strange red-head with intense brown eyes, four pitchers between the two of them, unable to look anywhere but the eyes and the lips below them. That one lip in particular held the reminder of how this all happened in the first place.

_She had, once again, beaten Matt in this one-on-one game that he insisted playing. She was simply quicker than him, but the only thing they ever did together was run and play soccer and occasionally go out. He said he always wanted to be doing something, "Life is too short to not be moving" he had said around the second time she had met him. Really, she knew, he didn't have the attention span for anything involving sitting still. So she had agreed to play. _

_They had agreed that she got to peg him with the ball if she won. As she set the ball up, telling him to stand still, she caught a glimpse of red in her periphery. She stared at the girl for a solid twenty seconds, noting that she had never seen anyone think so hard while running._

"_Naomi, come on! You are making me dread this more and more. Just do it already." Matt was facing away from her, insisting that he would bruise if hit in the face and be made infertile with a shot below the belt._

_Trying to shake her thoughts and focus on the task at hand, she rushed through the shot, kicking the ball as hard as she could. However, her eyes flicked up to the redhead at the last second, who was a mere 10 yards away now, which caused the ball to rocket towards her instead of her wanker boyfriend. "Heads up!"_

_She knew she shouldn't have said anything. The girl turned her head and, instead of getting hit in the back of the head, received a direct blow to the face. She crumpled to the ground immediately._

"_Oh shit, shit, shit! I'm so sorry! Are you ok?"_

_She ran towards her victim, cursing to herself at her idiocy. She saw the girls eyes blink, saw her wiggle her fingers, saw her look towards the sky. And then her eyes landed on Naomi's feet, trailing up towards her eyes. When she looked back into the eyes staring at her, she caught her breath suddenly. She wasn't sure why, but the air went out of her lungs for a second._

Well. That is certainly new. _Naomi was actually trying to look away. She just couldn't. Or maybe she didn't really want to._

"_Is she okay, Nai?" Brought back to reality by Matt's voice, she couldn't help but get immediately annoyed by the nickname. She had told him to stop calling her that. Ignoring him, she focused back on the girl._

"_Are you ok?" She received a grunt in return. _Shit. I gave her brain damage.

"_I mean, yes. Yes, I think so." _Thank god.

From that moment, she wasn't sure how anything happened. When she touched the girl's bloody lip, she felt her fingers tingle. When she saw the girl upset, she was ready to rip her own shirt off to give to the girl (which opened up whole other stream of thoughts that made her neck feel hot). When she found out the girl's name was Emily, she had to suppress the urge to say it out loud. And the strangest part was, when she found out that this complete stranger was gay, she was inexplicably happy. She might have even been flirting with her at some point. She wasn't really sure what was going on. But she felt the urge to go with it.

She had even smoked a cigarette before meeting Emily here, which she hadn't done in at least a year, just to calm her insane nerves. And then they met in front of the pub, and everything changed.

She had never felt anything quite like what had happened then. It was like something shifted inside of her. A slow burn had started just behind her rib gage and spread to the tips of her fingers and toes. She felt like she was being pushed at and pulled towards the girl all at once. Thank goodness her feet were still doing what she told them.

And here she was._ What if its awkward now that we have to talk. This was stupid. What are you doing?_ _Should have just apologized and let it go. _Before she thought, she spoke.

"So how is your lip? It looks a bit better."

Emily raises her hand to graze her lip. Naomi has to look away so she doesn't end up thinking too much about how attractive she finds the action. "It's fine really. Merely a flesh wound." Emily sighs at her own joke, seeming to regret it immediately. Naomi cannot help but smile widely. She can't believe she finds someone making a Monty Python reference so adorable. "I-I mean, I've been hit in the face before. I'm sure I'll survive."

"Good to know. Sooo…do you play then? Soccer, I mean. You said you had been hit in the face before. I'm assuming you're talking about a soccer ball. Though, if you are part of some sort of fight club, I understand if you can't talk about it." Now the roles were reversed and Naomi was sure she had made an idiot of herself, inwardly admonishing her lameness. But a contagious giggle brought her out of it, and before she knew it, they were laughing, and talking and joking like they had known each other forever.

They didn't talk about anything very important. A little about soccer, some about Matt, some about Emily's job. Most of the next two hours were spent chatting and laughing about nothing. But Naomi kept noting new things she found out about Emily. The first thing was that she was surprisingly witty, in a very a strange way. She always had a retort or comeback, and chose to make very lame jokes. The best part was that she seemed to make these particular jokes for herself, more than for Naomi. She laughed so hard at her lame yet clever jokes, and it would send Naomi into her own fit of laughter almost every time.

Another thing about Emily was that she seemed to be thinking all the time. Sometimes her eyes would look at nothing in particular and she would either chuckle to herself or furrow her brow. Naomi was hanging on every subtle change in Emily's face.

It seemed like any conversation with this girl was sitting in the fence between falling into a fit of side-splitting laughter or deep conversation. She had to find out more about this her.

"So, do you like working at the coffee shop?"

Emily seemed to think for a second. "I do actually. I like being able to work with my hands, talk to people everyday. I feel like I have accomplished something when I am tired after work, more so than I would at a desk job, I'm sure. But I don't think I want to work there forever or anything."

"Well, what would you like to do?"

"I don't know. I haven't found that thing yet."

"That _thing_?"

"Yeah. That thing that makes my heart beat fast, you know? I was going to go to graduate school, but I was mostly going to go because I like school. Then I realized, once I was done, I would be in a job that I am not particularly passionate about. And I couldn't deal with that."

"What do you mean you couldn't deal with it?" Naomi unconsciously leaned forward, hanging on every word coming out of Emily's mouth, intently staring, alternately, at her eyes and lips.

"Well, I know it sounds a bit lame, but I'm sort of what I like to call an all-or-nothing person. I have a really hard time doing something that I'm not doing a hundred percent. Its annoying, really. Its actually why I ended things with Jackie, the girl I told you about. She was fine with just being content. But I never felt the fire. I need the fire. She made me feel pretty crappy about it, actually. Maybe she's right, but, you know, its just how I…you know…am…I guess…" Emily's face had become slightly pink. Naomi thought it was possibly that she hadn't meant to go into her love life and was embarrassed. Naomi, however, was in complete awe of the girl in front of her. She wished she could be that way with her life. She wished she could stop flitting from thing to thing, person to person, without having any sort of purpose. The only thing she was steadfast with was her job and soccer.

"Sorry, I tend to ramble. And, you know, I guess I could blame the beer, but stuff just comes out of my mouth sometimes…" Emily had a look on her face that Naomi thought looked…defeated? She wasn't sure. But she realized she had been staring blankly at the redhead for several minutes.

"No, no! Don't apologize. And I don't think its lame at all…I think its brave. I mean, it's a brave reason to end something." Emily blushed a little again, but seemed to ease slightly. Naomi, suddenly thought of Matt. Thought of how she never felt that "fire" before with him. Was that something people really felt? She had always thought of all of that stuff as sort of wishful thinking of lonely people. Hell, why wouldn't someone wish for that? But it didn't seem real.

They fell into easier conversation again, Naomi talked about her job teaching history and coaching soccer at the high school. She started talking about how great she thought it was and how she had never planned on it. At times she thought she was getting caught up with herself, but Emily seemed to be genuinely interested and when she tried to change the subject, Emily just asked more questions. Naomi didn't think she had ever met someone so interested by the things she said as Emily seemed to be.

Hours later, she was convinced that she Emily was unlike anyone she had ever met. She wasn't so obviously different, but to Naomi she stood out from everyone else like a sore thumb. In the best way possible. She had never met someone so open. Of course, she could tell that she was closed off a little, stuck in her own thoughts. But she soon found that, if she asked questions, Emily answered. She wouldn't offer any information up, but when pushed, she would not only answer but discuss and talk at length about whatever it was, like all she needed was someone to give her permission to share herself. Sometimes, she seemed to become embarrassed by how much things spilled out of her mouth, but she never seemed very embarrassed about the actual information she shared. She seemed so at ease with herself.

Finally, before Naomi realized how late it was, the pub was closing. They made their way out into the night air, and Naomi became a little sad that she had to leave Emily. She was also struck with how completely ridiculous that though was. She just met this girl not even twelve hours ago. _Get a grip!_ The smell of spring filled her senses and she calmed a bit. That is, until she was hit with another scent. It was slightly floral, but mostly, it was completely unknown. And completely wonderful. As she turned to face Emily, she knew she was the source. It made her want to get closer to her, and simultaneously run.

Suddenly she felt she had to leave. "I had a great time. And I am sorry for, you know" she point at Emily's face, trying to not meet the brown eyes she felt on her face. "Maybe we'll do this again sometime." She chanced a look up at those eyes, only to find that Emily wasn't looking at her any longer and had a sad smile on her face. It was like she could tell what Naomi was thinking.

"Yeah, maybe." Naomi's eye was caught by something in Emily's hair. She reached for it before she thought about it and came into contact with something squishy and…was it liquid? She pulled her hand back to find it had a large glob of red paint on it. Suddenly realizing what she just did, she looked up to find Emily's eyes a little wider and her face a little more flushed than normal.

Naomi cleared her throat. "Sorry, you just had…um…"

"It's paint. I paint sometimes. I didn't realize that it was…I promise I shower regularly. I just, heh, wow. That's a little embarrassing." Naomi just grinned.

"You paint?"

"Yeah. Sometimes. I'm not good or anything. It more like…its calming I guess."

"You need calming?" Naomi smirked, hoping this meant she wasn't the only one feeling nervous before tonight.

"Sometimes. Maybe. I just get nervous about some things. Sometimes. I don't know." Emily looked at her feet shyly and Naomi's heart hurt from how cute she found the tiny figure in front of her.

"That's really cool. Maybe I can see something you have painted sometime?"

"Um…sure, I guess that would be cool." Emily met her eyes again, and Naomi, suddenly remembering her need to flee, quickly recovered.

"Um, yeah, so I guess I'll see you later then." And before she could help herself, she added, "Thanks again Emily. I had a great time." She felt a small shudder at saying the girls name out loud.

Emily, seemingly able to sense Naomi's sudden skittishness, crossed her arms over her chest and nodded, sending Naomi a slight smile. "Yeah, ok. Maybe I'll see you around." Naomi couldn't help but smile back. Emily slowly turned and walked away, after giving Naomi a look that made her think she knew exactly how she was feeling. She watched Emily's tiny frame walk away, the light shining off her red hair, her hips swaying slightly, hypnotizing the blonde for a few seconds.

She couldn't tell if she was relieved that she had escaped the feeling of panic that had been growing in her chest or sad because she hadn't asked for Emily's number. _To be friends, of course. I can always use a friend. _ She knew Emily sensed her growing dread and gave her some space. She was greatful.

As she saw Emily turn a corner at the end of the road, she looked at her hand, which had red paint smeared on it now. She had unconsciously tried to wipe it on her shirt, effectively ruining the shirt. She couldn't muster much annoyance at that fact, but just kept staring at her hand, wondering if she would be able to get it off easily, or if it would stain her hand for a while, like it had stained her shirt, probably forever.

She was convinced it would take some time to fade. For some reason, that made her smile.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Thanks for all the reviews. Hope it's getting better rather than worse.**_

_**I don't own skins.**_

As Emily walked out of the coffee shop, she stopped and inhaled deeply, reveling in the fresh air that didn't smell like coffee and burned milk. It was beautiful outside. There was a slight breeze that blew through the trees, filling her senses with the smell of spring. The blue sky next to the vibrant green of the trees almost made her forget that her arms had mocha splashed on them and her shoes were covered in spilled milk. Almost.

Sighing, she headed to her car, rolled down the windows, turned her radio a few notches up and enjoyed the breeze as she drove home, screaming along to a random assortment of music, feeling the wind on her face, hoping it was airing the coffee smell out of her hair. She let the calm feeling flow over her. As she arrived at her apartment, she immediately decided that today was a perfect day to head to the park. At that thought, a pair of blue eyes flashed in her mind briefly, replacing the calm feeling with that nagging swooping sensation, but she shook them away as soon as they came.

She was trying to keep her mind off of Naomi. _Naomi_. She had barely even thought her name for the past two days because it began the same cycle every time. First, she thought of the name Naomi; it was perfect for her. She remembered laughing when she learned her last name, not because she was making fun of her, but because of Naomi's indignation at having to share the name with the model. This was always the second thing in the cycle: her laugh. It was so contagious, and she did it so often that night at the pub. Emily was aware that her own sense of humor was odd at times, to say the least. But Naomi's clicked with that so well. She didn't give her the strange, blank look when she laughed at her own jokes, like many people did, but she seemed to find them just as funny as Emily did…or she at least thought that Emily finding it funny was funny, which seemed much more likely. But Naomi's own sense of humor was unique in its own right. She was so sarcastic and Emily loved when she made dead-pan jokes with a straight face, mostly because of the last second, when she could no longer hold in her laughter and her unexpected giggle burst forth, surprising them both and sending them into a fit of laughter. Sometimes she could stop the thought cycle there, and she could keep from thinking of her face; her eyes.

But she couldn't keep those eyes out of her mind for long. Naomi's eyes had been burned into Emily's brain. _You have to keep this under control_. The thing was, she felt very connected to Naomi. She really enjoyed being near her, talking to her, laughing with her. She loved the way Naomi had talked about her job, teaching and coaching. Her whole face lit up, and her eyes were bright and burning. Emily was tempted to make up an excuse for them to somehow move closer together, and had even leaned over the table a bit more, convinced that the closer she was to her, the more she could feel actual heat coming off of her. And Naomi seemed just as interested in Emily. She seemed interested in things Emily had never considered particularly fascinating about herself. She actually asked questions, and Emily felt at ease sharing her mind with this stranger. Which is what she really was seeing as Emily had only known her for three days. And had only talked to her one of those days. But none of these things were the real problem.

The problem was, Emily had seen the look in Naomi's eyes as they said their goodbyes that night. She was panicking. She was feeling something that she wasn't expecting and she almost lost it. Her eyes gave her away completely. Emily saw that look and reacted with some sadness, but she understood. She was sure the beer had heightened things, but if Naomi felt what Emily had been feeling, it was probably pretty overwhelming, especially considering Emily was a _girl_ and Naomi had a _boy_friend. If Naomi didn't feel what Emily was feeling, well, it was still clear that she was overwhelmed by something about Emily. Emily hated it sometimes, but she had been told before that she was intense. Jackie had told her that once. She said that Emily was too honest sometimes. That she was so full-on. Some of her friends from University had said the same thing. She could never figure out what she did to make people feel that way. Emily didn't want to be too much for Naomi.

Secondly, Emily needed a friend. And Naomi already felt like one, after only three days. She felt like she could talk to her about anything, which was a rarity in Emily's life. And, admittedly, weird for the amount of time they had spent together. She knew she was in her own head too much, always over-thinking things, always keeping those thoughts to herself. People didn't normally bring Emily's thoughts out in the open, but Naomi did. Of course Emily was attracted to Naomi as well. She constantly let her eyes wander that night, from the curve of her neck, to her slightly exposed cleavage. Even Naomi's hands made Emily want to reach out and touch her, feel her skin. But, for the first time she could ever remember, Emily felt like she could be doing just about anything with someone, and be perfectly happy. She wanted to keep that.

But Emily didn't give her number to Naomi, nor had Naomi given her number to Emily. She had purposefully avoided the park for a few days. She didn't want Naomi to feel like she couldn't get away from Emily if she wanted. She wanted to give her an easy out. But, today being such a nice day, she thought she would chance it. And maybe, if she did see Naomi, they could even exchange numbers. Hang out, be friends. Just friends. Emily would be okay with that.

As she stepped out of her car, she was ecstatic that she had come to the park. The beauty of the day had not diminished, and it was so bright that everything seemed newer and more colorful. There was a pick up soccer game at the field in front of her, and she decided to try to join. As she got closer to the field, her feet slowed and her senses focused in on one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen. There in front of her, she saw Naomi on the field, with the ball at her feet, dribbling through three guys on the opposite team, one after another. She was so fast that once she was past them, none of them could quite catch up. She was so graceful and natural with the ball. It never strayed too far from her feet, giving her complete control and allowing her to make fools of the people trying to stop her. Suddenly, as she did a simple step-over move to get past the last defender, she sailed the ball into the back of the net. She struck it with such power that Emily no longer had any surprise that her lip had bled when she first met Naomi. The keeper barely even had time to react as it whizzed past him.

The whole thing reminded her of when she was twelve. Her dad took her to watch a U-17 girl's game one Saturday. It was one of the really great club teams in the area. He had told her that it was good to see the best in action. She had never seen girls so close to her own age playing so beautifully. She was hooked. It was also the first time she actually had to convince herself that she didn't like girls in the way that she clearly did. One of the girls was particularly astounding on the ball and particularly breathtaking, with her tanned skin and her toned legs. She had stared at the sun bouncing off her light brown hair, and watched her speeding around the field, using her strength to fend off the others from the ball, even causing an injury or two. Emily felt that she would be terrified if she ever had to go up against someone with that kind of strength. She had actually told herself, over and over, that she really just wanted to _be like_ that girl. That she wanted _to be friends_ with her. She had told herself that same thing several times, about several girls, over and over, for years.

She was getting that same feeling now, much more intensely, years later, and completely understood it for what it was. She felt a tinge of sadness, thinking back to all the years she spent denying her feelings for different girls, completely internalizing everything and missing so many opportunities to be herself. But she quickly refocused her attention on the blonde in front of her, feeling the regret being replaced with awe. Naomi merely continued jogging, smirking to herself slightly as she headed back to the other side of the field. Suddenly, as if she sensed someone watching her, Naomi looked up and met Emily's eyes. The smirk became an almost-goofy grin. Naomi's face was slightly flushed from the exertion of the game and Emily thought she had never seen anyone looking so adorable.

Emily smiled back and gave her a wave as Naomi jogged over to her. Naomi nodded to some other guy to take her place on the field and she stopped in front of Emily, still smiling, and looking at her curiously.

"I was hoping you would show up here at some point."

Emily's raised her eyebrows. "Were you?"

Naomi chuckled. "Well…yeah. I've been looking around for you the past couple of days. Thought you would be around." She looked down a little after saying this. "You know, to see if you wanted to play. But I didn't have your number, so…" Emily reached in her bag and pulled out her phone and held it up to Naomi.

"Well, we can fix that. Here, go ahead and put your number in and we'll go from there." They smiled at each other for a few minutes, chatting idly, before Naomi all but pushed Emily on the field, clearly eager to start playing again. Naomi recognized one of the guys on the other team as Matt, Naomi's boyfriend. He was whispering to a short, stocky guy on his team, whom Emily nicknamed Stubby in her head. Stubby had a smirk on his face and was very obviously running his eyes over Emily's body. Emily did nothing to suppress the disgusted look she was sure was on her face. She looked over at Naomi, and saw her staring daggers at Stubby. When he noticed this, he seemed a little frightened and turned his eyes elsewhere. She also took the opportunity to like Matt less, seeing him being so chummy with the leering creep.

As they started playing, Emily was surprised to learn that she and Naomi made a great team. She didn't think she would be able to keep up with her, but they seem to be able to read each other's movements and worked off of each other so well. It was almost like they were dancing, the way they moved around each other; they seemed to know where the other was and where the other was going all the time. The game was flowing so smoothly and the ball seemed to rarely be in anyone else's possession for very long. They were soundly beating the crap out of the other team, and the glares from the other side of the field were becoming angrier with every goal.

As Emily took the ball down the side line, she ran at Stubby, who was defending, as quickly as she could, catching him off balance. She easily passed the ball between his legs and ran around him, sending him to the ground in a fit of clumsy confusion. As she reached the end line, she crossed the ball, sending it flying in the air towards the goal, directly to where Naomi was headed. She saw Naomi's head meet the ball in mid air, but then saw nothing but colorful spots as she was slammed face first into the dirt. Someone had slammed into her back, probably trying to stop her from crossing the ball. She felt herself actually swallow grass as she lie on the ground, trying to catch her breath, looking over to see that Naomi had, in fact, put the ball in the back of the net, yet again. Despite the pain throughout her body, she turned over and tried to sit up, holding the top part of her body up with her arms. She wanted to find Naomi and congratulate her on the excellent finish, but she knew something was wrong when she looked up to see Stubby cowering and Naomi speeding towards him with a look of pure fury on her face.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Jared? Are you actually as much of an asshole as you are stupid? Why the hell did you do that?" Naomi looked like she was going to actually hit him. He seemed to think so too, as he held his hands in front of him, holding an innocent look on his face.

"Naomi, calm down! It was an accident!" It was Matt who said it, as Jared apparently seemed unable to speak.

"Like hell it was!" She turned to him quickly. "His ego was bruised because Emily made him look like a complete twat when he fell on his ass, so he ran after her and basically tackled her. She could have gotten hurt you stupid fucking idiot!" Emily couldn't help but agree with her. There was no way it was accidental, but Emily was too distracted to be angry, as she knew she should have been.

Emily stared at Naomi, as she continued railing into Jared, and Matt for defending him, and while she was slightly flattered that Naomi was standing up for her, and slightly in pain from the fall, all she could think about was how sexy Naomi was when she was angry. Her eyes were wild and she really did look like she was going to physically attack Jared – or even Matt. She would never get over seeing Naomi so powerful and strong. She knew Naomi was intelligent and witty; a completely capable and competent woman, but this was something entirely new. She was like a force of nature right now and Emily could not help but look directly into the eye of the storm. She did not blame Jared or Matt for the looks of terror on their faces. Emily's mind went fuzzy for a second.

When she snapped back to reality, Naomi was, once again, standing in front of her with a worried look on her face. She extended her hand down to help Emily up. As Emily grabbed it, she noticed that her hand fit perfectly in Naomi's. She gripped it tightly, and even just the act of their palms pressing together was making Emily's already pounding heart beat even faster. As she pulled her up quickly, Naomi didn't let go or step back, but instead Emily popped straight up, within a few inches of Naomi. Their faces were so close that Emily became focused, intently, on Naomi's eye lashes. They were dark at the roots and then became blonde at the tips and she couldn't stop studying them. Everything about this girl was doing her mind in.

Naomi cleared her throat, bringing Emily back from her reverie, and they each stepped backwards. "Sorry about him. Jared's an ass. Napoleon complex, and all. I hate that guy." The look of anger turned to concern. "I hope you are okay."

Emily's mouth curled up on the edges slightly, "Well, I think once he recovers from the complete verbal ass-kicking you gave him, I'm sure he'll think twice about, you know, ever playing on the same field as you again." Naomi blushed a little. "And yes, I'm fine. Thanks, by the way. You really didn't need to do that. Stand up for me."

"Well, he shouldn't have body checked you like that. You could have gotten hurt, and all just because you made him look like an idiot." She suddenly smiled broadly. "You are really great, by the way. I had no idea you were so good."

"Oh yeah? Thanks for the confidence." She smirked.

"No! No that's not what I meant. I just wasn't expecting you to be able to do that!"

"Well, you are no slouch yourself. You were running circles around those guys before I even got here."

"Well, half of them have never played an organized game of soccer. They have only ever played pickup games. So maybe it's just the comparison making me look better." Emily could tell Naomi was getting uncomfortable from the compliment.

"So, I think I'm gonna head out. I need to recover a little from that last fall." It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep her resolve to stay away from this girl.

"Oh. Okay. Well, um, I was gonna ask… whatareyoudoingtonight?" Naomi blurted it out.

Emily smiled, "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Sorry, I'm just tired from playing. Its, uh, making my brain…you know. Um, what are you doing tonight? Later, I mean…"

"Well, mostly, I was going to go home, call my sister, maybe read, go to sleep. My life is fascinating and full of exciting adventures. Why?"

"Well, my friends are in this 'band' thing" she uses air quotes, which makes Emily chuckle "or they are trying to be anyway. They are having a sort of show, and they wanted me to come. I thought maybe you might want to come along." Naomi looks up, shy and a little nervous, and Emily suddenly forgets any thought of trying to keep away from this girl.

"Um, maybe. Where is it?"

"It's at this place downtown. I can just give you a ride? I'm really terrible at directions, and it makes sense if we just go together. I can pick you up at 8?" Emily looks at Naomi, who seems to be avoiding direct eye contact. Her cheeks are slightly tinged pink. Her eyes trail down to Naomi's left hand, which is picking at a loose thread on her shorts. She also notices, for the first time, that Naomi is bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet. _Adorable._

Emily starts going over all the reasons why this could be a bad idea in her head, but then stops herself. If she wants a friend, she will have to actually hang out with said friend at times. And she does love going to live shows. Even Naomi's phrasing of "band thing" made her nervous about the quality of the show. Still, she had no doubt that she would have fun. Realizing that, once again, she was spacing out, she decides to speak up. "That sounds really great. I'd love to." She sends an encouraging smile to Naomi, who looks so happy to hear that Emily is coming that Emily's heart aches a little.

Emily gives Naomi her address and they say their goodbyes. As Naomi turns away, Emily gives a little wave, accidentally hitting herself in the eye slightly with her thumb. _Good lord, at least keep control of your limbs tonight._ Naomi turned, but Emily knew she had seen, as she saw her back shaking from laughter. Emily shook her head._ Well, at least if I seem like as much of an idiot as I feel, being just friends will never be an issue._

As Emily drives back to her apartment, getting lost in the music blaring from the speakers, she thinks about what it will be like getting lost in music, standing next to Naomi, in a dimly lit club. Suddenly Emily realizes she has not actually been out, other than the other night with Naomi, in quite a while. She whips out her phone immediately, quickly working her mind into a panic.

As the voice on the other end answers, Emily nearly yells at it.

"Be at my apartment in twenty minutes! I have and emergency."


	5. Chapter 5

_**SomeAreLakes, yes that is where I got the title. Nice catch.**_

_**Also,sorry to everyone for using 'soccer' rather than 'football'. I thought about it, but I feared that my painful American-ness would have made me sound like an idiot had I tried to use 'football'.**_

_**I don't own Skins.**_

**Naomi**

Naomi sits in front of the address that Emily gave her, five minutes early. She doesn't know why she asked Emily to come to this thing. She had decided that she really did want to be friends with Emily, and that whatever else she was feeling was just her admiration of the girl. Why shouldn't she admire her? She was funny, witty, intelligent, and she had this intensity about her. She was a huge dork, and didn't even seem to mind. _I actually thought it was endearing when she hit herself in the eye from waving, for Christ's sake_. Naomi had never met anyone like her. Plus, as it turned out, she was a brilliant soccer player. So of course she admired her, wanted to be like her. To be her friend. So why invite her to this show that was sure to be terrible? _That's no way to treat your friends, Naomi._

She thought it had something to do with the anger she felt when she thought Jared had hurt her. She tried to pretend that it was because she hated Jared, which she actually did. He was creepy and an ass hole. The fact that he was actually Matt's friend made her seriously question Matt's taste in friends. But the anger was mostly because of what he had done to Emily. She had never felt that kind of protectiveness towards anyone. She literally thought she was going to tackle him. It took her by surprise, to say the least. It was one of a growing list of things that had shocked her about the redhead.

Feeling that she had sat in her car for far too long, she got out and headed inside. She reached the door of Emily's apartment and, after hesitating for several minutes, knocked. Hearing muffled voices on the other side, she leaned closer trying to hear if it was Emily telling her to come in. When her face got right next to the door, it was swung open, causing her to jump back, and in front of her stood a girl with almost purple hair, very familiar brown eyes and a hostile questioning look. "Um…hi?" Naomi couldn't think of anything else to say.

The girl looked her up and down, clearly unimpressed. "Can I help you?" Naomi was surprised at the venom in the girl's voice and it probably showed on her face. A look of realization hit the girl. She rolled her eyes, grabbed her purse, and pushed past her. "She's in her room. Tell her I left. And she owes me." She walked away loudly with what appeared to be leopard print heels.

Naomi stood confused and rooted to the spot, looking down the hall from where the girl just disappeared and then into the apartment. She walked in slowly, looking around. It was rather small, but cozy. She saw that the walls were bare, except for one painting hanging. It had a red human shaped figure in the middle with its arms and legs fully extended and color exploding from it, bursting from all sides. As she got closer to it, she saw that the paint was raised in the middle of the figure's chest, in the vague shape of an actual human heart, rather than the cartoon shaped ones that she saw everywhere during Valentine's day. Ever since she was ten and found out what an actual human heart looked like, she always hated the fake ones. She couldn't help but stare at the painting for a few minutes. She really liked it, she decided. She'd have to ask Emily about it.

She heard music growing louder in the direction of the only partially closed door in the apartment. She walked towards the room, hearing someone moving around.

As she pushed the door open slowly, she took in the sight in front of her. Emily stood there, in skinny jeans and a simple, blue not-quite t-shirt clinging to her in all the right places, in front of the mirror, eyes closed, basically yelling along to the music. Her face was so concentrated, as she belted out the chorus with her arms out stretched. She rocked back and forth, bringing her arms in, turning them into fists at times, and moving her whole body along with words and the beat. Naomi watched her intently, knowing she should be laughing, but unable to do anything but stare. She looked so free and so completely wrapped up in the song. She didn't recognize the song, but she already loved it. At some point she opened her eyes, and jumped slightly as she saw Naomi there. "Oh my god! What the fuck! You scared the shit out of me!" She pressed her hand to her chest, and bent over. Her shocked face turned into a smile and she started laughing. "Well, that is rather embarrassing." Naomi could not help but notice that she didn't really looked that embarrassed, only slightly red. She envied that.

"Uh, sorry, sorry. Didn't want to interrupt…"Naomi smirked at the redhead. As she glanced into her eyes, and she remembered the girl from earlier.

"You don't happen to have a sister that was here about two minutes ago do you?"

"Bitch, she didn't even tell me she was leaving." Emily shook her head, still smiling. "Yeah, that's my sister, Katie. Twin actually. She was just helping me get ready. I haven't really got much of a fashion sense. But I ended up wearing mostly what I was going to wear anyway. She has sort of a specific taste in clothes. It's more…well…whorish? But, I suppose she helped a little." Naomi burst out laughing.

"She did say you owe her…But, well, I think you look amazing like you are." Naomi couldn't help the quick once-over she gave Emily's body. She didn't think that it was possible for Emily to look bad.

"Thanks…" Now Emily was looking embarrassed. _Shit. Naomi, think before you speak._ But she couldn't regret what she had said, as it made Emily look like she did now, with that nervous blush on her face. _I could get used to that. No! God. Stop it._

"So, I didn't realize you lived so close to downtown. We can actually walk there from here if you want. Or we can drive." Naomi thought it was about time to leave, seeing as she apparently she couldn't seem to stop accidentally flirting and was surrounded by the scent of Emily, in her cozy apartment, next to her bed. The thoughts she had tried to deny before were bombarding her now.

"Walking is fine. It's so nice outside. I love when the weather changes." Emily walks over to her window, glancing out. She closes her eyes and breathes deeply. Naomi watches her hair blow slightly in the breeze and watches the tiny muscles in her neck strain as she closes the window. Emily turns and looks expectantly at her for a moment.

Shaking her head, she comes to her senses. "Right! Off we go!"

As they walked, they fell into easy conversation. Emily had started asking questions and put forth an idea when Naomi commented on it.

"Well, I used to play this game with one of my friends. I didn't live near her, but we talked on the phone a lot, and we would play The Question Game. Pretty simple really. You just take turns asking questions."

Naomi thought about it. "Well, what if I don't want to answer a question?"

"Why wouldn't you want to answer a question?"

Naomi had never been asked that before. Wasn't sure what answer she could give that wouldn't make her sound cowardly or boring. "Well…I mean…I have just met you a few days ago. What if I wanted to keep things to myself." She sees Emily smirk.

Emily looked thoughtfully at Naomi, "Well, I suppose you don't have to answer. Or you could just lie. But I think I'll know if you are lying" Naomi scoffs at this "What? Your eyes would give you away. And if you don't answer, I'll at least know that there is something you don't want to talk about. Which is kind of an answer in itself."

Naomi didn't know how she felt about this game or the fact that Emily thought she could tell if she was lying. The scary part was, she believed her completely. _Fuck it._

"OK, can I start?"

"Shoot. Oh, but no 'favorite questions'. It's too hard to pick."

"Okay then. Where did you get that painting on your wall?"

Emily blushed "I, uh…well, I painted it actually."

"Really? Wow."

"Yeah, I just dabble in it. Mostly suck, but I actually like that one. I know its not the best or anything. I meant to take that down before you came, I just…."

"No! I liked it. I liked it a lot. Can I ask you a question about it though? Why did you painted it? I mean, what made you think of painting _that_?"

"Well, technically, it is my turn, but I'll give you one freebee, this being your first time and all. As long as you promise not to laugh."

Naomi held her right hand up. "I swear."

"Well, it was a really nice day, and I had been in sort of a shit mood for an entire week. I had just moved here, and felt really, you know…I don't know…lonely, I guess. I was alone all the time, and still getting to know everything. And when I'm alone so much, I tend to sort of…get stuck in my own head, you know. Just a habit. I over-think everything. Well, that day, I looked out my window and…well, it was just gorgeous. You ever see something so awesome and just, you know, beautiful, that you just have to watch it, so you won't miss it? So you can store the moment? I know is sounds pretty stupid, but, well, that happened, and I was listening to some really great song, like one of those perfect songs for the moment. And I got, just, really ridiculously happy. Like the song was just bursting out of me and I had to remember how that felt. Store it away. For the next time I felt lost. So I painted that. I can look at it and remember how happy I can be. Like its just bursting out of me. Does that make sense?" Emily looked a little embarrassed at her speech. Naomi just stared at her.

Her face was so vulnerable, but so strong at the same time, like she was ready for Naomi to laugh at her pouring her heart out, and she was prepared to take it. Naomi knew if she had, Emily would have been able to handle it, from the look on her face. But she didn't laugh. "I completely understand." And she felt like she really did.

Naomi was positive that if anyone else had said it, her eyes would have rolled. But she understood everything Emily had said, which scared her. The more she heard Emily talk, the more she felt something in her melt. She was becoming soft inside. She remembered the picture and knew that she felt something when she saw it. She couldn't wait to see it again, knowing what Emily had told her.

As if nothing profound had happened inside Naomi's heart just then, Emily spoke "Okay, it's my turn. Why did you put quotes around 'band' when talking about this show we are going to?"

"Ha, well, a few of my friends, they all play instruments, with varying degrees of skill. Recently, they decided they wanted to start a band, even though they all have wildly different taste in music. I only heard them play once. It was…interesting."

"Well, I'm so glad you brought me then." Emily rolls her eyes, still smiling.

"I'm sure they are better…I just don't know how much better…"

They chatted about Naomi's friends for a little. She told Emily about Cook, Freddie, Panda, and Effy. That pretty much lasted them until the club.

As they walked in, Naomi saw Cook at the bar, leaning over flirting with the bar tender. As he whispered in her ear, he saw Naomi and started yelling before he was too far away from the girl's ear, "Babe! You came!" The bartender shot him an angry look, but he didn't notice.

"I told you I would, Cook." She allowed him to give her a bone-crunching hug, smelling the alcohol on him already. As he released her, he raised his eyebrows as he set his eyes on Emily.

"And who do we have here?" His eyes ran all over her and stopped at her eyes. "Alright, red? I'm Cookie. I'm sure Naomikins as told you all about me." Naomi fights the urge to hit him over the back of the head for looking at her like that.

"She has, actually," Emily responds, as she extends her hand to shake his. She doesn't even seem offended by the look he is giving her, she is just laughing lightly.

"Yeah?" He reaches out and shakes his hand. "Been talking about me Blondie?"

"You're the one with the STI right? It sounds really painful. How is the medication working?" Naomi burst out laughing. The bartender who, for some reason, didn't leave when Cook screamed in her ear, eyed him wearily, and walked away. Cook, however, seemed to find Emily just as amusing as Naomi did. He silently laughs, shaking his whole body.

"I like this one, Blondie. I should head up there, we're going on soon. You owe me a drink Red. You cost me a few just now. Actually, we can discuss what else you cost me later." He wiggles his eyebrows, downs the shot in his hand and saunters off.

"So, that's Cook?" Emily asks, still laughing.

"That's Cook. Charmer, isn't he?" She smirked over at Emily, watching her laugh.

They ordered drinks and sat at the bar as the place became more and more crowded. At one point, a different bartender sat four shots in front of them. When they looked at him curiously, he merely pointed towards the stage. As they turned, they saw Cook off to the side, raising his glass to them, laughing manically. By the time the lights started to dim, Naomi was feeling slightly buzzed, and could see that Emily was feeling the same.

Emily hopped off the stool, grabbed Naomi's hand, and pulled her towards the stage, and directly into the crowd. "Em, what are you doing?" She yelled, so Emily could hear her through the cheers of the crowd.

"I cannot very well sit in the back during a show. It's not the same. Got be in it, you know!" Emily yelled back. They made it as far forward as they could, maybe in about the third row of people. Emily had not let go of Naomi's hand yet and Naomi could think of little else. The lights suddenly all went dark, and the cheers grew. Emily released Naomi's hand and raised her own over her head, cheering along with the crowd. Feeling bodies closing in around her, she had no choice but to be pressed slightly against Emily, the front of her left side to the back of Emily's right side. She felt Emily's cheering stop and her arms slowly lower. Being pushed forward again, Naomi's right hand gripped Emily's hip, the other sat on her lower back. She let out a throaty, "Sorry" and felt Emily's body shiver slightly as her breath ran through her hair to her ear. Emily turned her head slightly so that her cheek was only an inch away from the tip of Naomi's nose. "Its okay. Kinda crowded I guess." Emily replied, swallowing deeply. Naomi didn't have anyone pressing against her anymore, but she stood completely still, feeling Emily so close to her. She wouldn't move her fingers, however much she wanted to feel the skin on Emily's hip; she didn't want to ruin the moment. But she breathed deeply, inhaling nothing but Emily, and she felt Emily's breath quicken.

Just then, light burst on stage, along with the sound of a bass line. Emily's head snapped up, and Naomi's breath hitched as she saw the light covering Emily's face, which was suddenly covered in a wide smile. At that moment, Naomi remembered the painting she had seen at Emily's and feeling Emily had described. _Like everything was bursting out of me_. She really did understand.

The moment was broken slightly, as Emily began to jump around a little, along with the rest of the crowd. Naomi couldn't help herself but to dance along, especially when Emily would turn to look at her, with that huge grin. The band had gotten much better than when she last heard them. But they still didn't have a lot of new material. Most of the songs they played were covers. Effy sat at the keyboard on the side of the stage, looking calm as always, even in the upbeat songs. Panda, in the back, was going crazy on the drums, even on the slower songs. Naomi almost had to laugh at the contrast. Freddie, moved to the music, letting his bass hang much lower than she thought necessary, but he was getting quite a few adoring glances from wannabe groupies in the front, and smiling lazily. And, of course, Cook was wailing on the guitar, completely in his element, thriving on the energy. The current song ended, which Naomi thought might have been an original, and she cheered along with everyone else.

As Cook counted off the next song, Emily seemed to get overly excited. As he broke out with the lyrics, she closed her eyes, and sung along as loudly as she could. It was just Cook and the guitar at first.

_And if I could swim, I'd swim out to you in the ocean_

_Swim out to where you were floating_

_In the dark_

_And if I was blessed, I walk on the water your breathing_

_Lend you some air for that heaving, sunken chest_

_Cause they chose you, as the model_

_For their empty little dreams_

_With your new head, and your legs spread_

_Like a filthy magazine_

_And they'd hunt you_

_And they'd gut you_

_And you give in_

Naomi had never heard the song, but she wanted so badly to know it, so she could sing along with Emily, especially when they got to the chorus and the whole band joined in, when Emily went crazy, like she was on stage herself.

_I'd walk through hell for you_

_Let it burn right through my shoes_

_These soles are useless without you_

_Through hell for you, _

_Let the torturing ensue, my soul is useless_

_Without you_

For a second, she actually listened to the song as Cook was singing. Cook was really doing well with it. As she looked up at him, she met his eyes and saw a knowing smirk on his face. He broke out into a huge grin and she knew she had been caught._ Shit._ She knew she had been staring at Emily almost the entire time they were in front of the stage.

As the band finished to take a breaj, Emily turned to Naomi with a huge smile on her pink face. Her red hair was sticking a little to her face and neck, as she ran her hand through it. "What?" Naomi had been staring at her, with a smile of her own, and had just realized it.

"N-Nothing, sorry. Another drink?"

"I'd like that. And they are great? Why didn't you tell me?"

"To be honest, I didn't know. They have improved so much. I didn't know Cook would fit so well into his role of lead singer. I guess I should have guessed." Naomi shook her head at her lame wording, still fuzzy from before.

"Yeah, he was great! That Effy girl was really great too. Very eerie, when she sang that Eisley song. She's quite hypnotizing." Naomi knew the song she was talking about, had seen Emily looking amazed then too. An unfamiliar sensation panged in her chest.

"Nai! Hey babe!" Naomi turned around and saw Matt walking towards her. Or stumbling. _What the actual fuck!_ She had told Matt not to come tonight. She was still so angry at him for standing up for Jared today. "You must be joking! Are you serious right now? You brought him?" Jared was lurking behind Matt, looking slightly resentful, and equally as drunk, possibly more. Naomi felt the alcohol making her slightly more furious than she might have been otherwise, and she immediately started yelling. "I told you leave me the fuck alone for the night. And you!" She looks at Jared, making him step back slightly "you were not invited in the first place. What the hell are you doing here! Follow your _only_ fucking friend out to watch his girlfriend kick the crap out of him?"

"Naomi, what the hell is wrong with you. I thought you would have liked me surprising you, and Jared was coming to apologize, weren't you Jared." Jared looked a little flustered, but soon his face filled with anger, and instead of an apology, he broke the flood gates. "I don't need this! I was just fucking" he swayed a little "fucking playing the game. That" he paused , pointing towards Emily, swaying again "that bitch should learn to play tougher." He stumbled slightly forward as he said it, and Naomi snapped.

Before she knew what she was doing, her fist swung out, feeling something break when her fist came into contact with his nose.


	6. Chapter 6

**Emily**

Emily could do nothing but stand and stare. She was at a complete loss as for how to proceed in this situation. Her brain was in sponge mode, trying to take in every single thing about the events unfolding in front of her. But actual movement was out of the question at the moment.

She saw Naomi punch Jared directly in the nose. Could have sworn she heard something crunch. She had been trying to decide, during the non-violent portion of the argument, who was more drunk; Matt or Jared. Jared had been winning so far. However, as Matt sped forward, stumbling slightly, trying to hold Naomi, who was standing completely still, back from attacking Jared further, she thought Matt might be pulling ahead in the inebriation race. As soon as Matt touched her, she started yelling at him. He seemed to be suddenly frozen with fear, and continued holding her arm. Out of nowhere, Cook barreled into him with only moderate force, but Matt's aforementioned drunkenness caused him to fall to the ground much harder than necessary. Cook's face, for a flash of a second, had a look of pure fury on it, until he seemed to put together what he saw from afar and the situation in front of him. The rage turned to glee in that moment. This guy was quite amusing to observe.

Jared had been holding his nose, and stumbling around. But now he looked as if he was trying to fight…well, anyone? Emily wasn't sure. His eyes were watering and Emily couldn't imagine he could see very well. He moved in the direction of Naomi, though Emily thought he was probably trying to go towards Cook. Freddie, however, who had wandered over after Cook, stepped in front of him, pushing him a little, and caused him to fall. Everything seemed very still after that. The two idiots on the floor looked confused, and just as hammered as before. Cook and Freddie seemed very surprised and slightly amused. Naomi just seemed shocked and still slightly angry.

_Did that really just happen? _Emily had never seen a fight that wasn't on a soccer field before. Wasn't even sure if she could call what had just happened a fight. Had definitely never seen anyone hit in the face, other than on TV. She looked over at Naomi who was being held by Cook, as some security guys came to remove Matt and Jared. She was curious as to why they didn't even think about taking Naomi, who had perpetrated the actual violence, but thought it might have something to do with the level of drunkenness and obnoxiousness of Matt and Jared. After they had recovered, Matt from his fear, and Jared from the shock of his (probably broken) bleeding nose, they became very vocally indignant as they were being dragged out of the bar. Her opinion of Matt had officially hit rock-bottom. Did he really think bringing Jared here would turn out well? He was either a complete douche bag or an idiot. Emily was thinking it was a little from column A, a little from column B.

She had been thoroughly enjoying herself earlier. Right before the show started, there was definitely a moment between her and Naomi. Just thinking about it was sending her heart into overdrive. The way she could feel the heat of Naomi's body through her shirt, her warm hand barely grazing Emily's hip, her warm breath blowing past her ear. And then when the show started, she became singularly aware of the music, the sound blasting out of the speakers, pounding through her body, and the feel of Naomi behind her. The band was excellent and the atmosphere was electric. She had lost herself in the moment completely, thinking of how she had rarely had one like it. Then, of course, at intermission, Jared and Matt made their grand appearance.

"Blondie…" Cook seemed at a loss for words, but his face was lit up with a huge grin. "I have never seen you get so…feisty. Really knocked that wanker down a few notches. Think you may have broken his nose! I knew I would rub off on you one day." Cook seemed delighted by the turn of events. He had his arm around Naomi, absentmindedly rubbing his hand up and down her arm. Though she let out a weary grin, Naomi stood completely still, a blank look returning to her face.

"Yeah, Naomi, that was quite a show. Remind me never to piss you off again, yeah?" Freddie shook his head, looking amazed and smiling just as lazily as before, as if nothing particularly interesting had happened. He lit up a spliff he had pulled out of his pocket, smiling and shaking his head as he exhaled the smoke. "We should probably head back up there. We'll find you guys after?" They both headed back towards the stage, leaving Naomi and Emily alone, silence filling the space between them.

"Ugh!" The noise startled Emily, and for the first time since the punch, she looked in Naomi's eyes, finding unexpected unshed tears. She was in front of her in a second.

"Naomi, are you okay?" Naomi was holding her right hand with her left, looking frustrated and confused. She glanced up at Emily, looking completely lost. Emily didn't know whether it was pain or something else causing her to tear up, but she felt overwhelmed at seeing Naomi cry.

"I just…I got so mad at him. I don't know what happened. And…have you ever hit someone in the face? It fucking hurts!" She seemed so small in that moment. "What…what are you…I just don't…" She looked at Emily, as if somehow she could explain what had just happened. Emily just met her gaze steadily, smiling a little sadly, and getting a little caught up in how blue her eyes looked because of the tears. She refocused her attention on Naomi's hand, gently taking it in her own, sliding her fingers over the skin on Naomi's knuckles, which was slightly red and raw. She looked up at Naomi, whose eyes were now focused on Emily's fingers gently running over her skin, seeing a twitch at the corner of her mouth for a brief second.

"Do you want to leave?" Emily wasn't ready for the night to end, but everything that had just happened seemed to be causing Naomi quite a bit of grief.

"No, I-I think I just need to sit a while. You mind if we find a table to watch the rest of the show? I don't think I can be in that crowd right now." She seemed to have collected herself a bit, and put a little distance between herself and Emily. Emily noticed and tried not to be too upset about it, attempting to keep any disappointment off her face.

"Of course." Emily pointed towards a table in the corner, thinking it was big enough that, if the band wanted to sit with them afterwards, there would be room. As Naomi sat down, Emily went back up to the bar and ordered two pints and four shots of Jack. As she brought them back to the table, she saw Naomi's eyes grow wide. "You really are full of surprises, you know that?"

"What? It's Jack. I love whiskey. Plus, I feel like you could use it, after, you know..." She wasn't sure why, but she felt like Naomi wouldn't want to talk about what just happened quite yet. They each took a shot, and as Emily felt the liquid burn down her throat and settle in her stomach, she watched Naomi's face scrunch up, and her tongue stick out slightly, clearly trying to keep it down. She giggled a little, earning a playful scowl from the blonde.

They fell into a comfortable silence as the band started playing again. Freddie was singing this one, putting his bass aside and just holding on to the microphone stand. She tried to keep herself from running back towards the stage as they started one of her favorite songs. Mostly, she knew she had far too much to think about at the moment, so she simply enjoyed the music, absentmindedly singing along, letting it be the background for her thoughts.

_And there's this burning_

_Like there's always been_

_I've never been so alone_

_And I've never been so alive_

She thought about how she got in this situation. Less than a week ago, she had been numb. When she was younger, she used to be burning all the time. She nearly burned up completely, aching for things she could never get, feeling so much that she could barely breathe at times. She had always been such a romantic person, always believing in silly things like true love, and soul mates. Honor, selflessness and all those idealistic notions everyone knows to be true when they are young and then discovers to be just naive. She held onto them longer than normal, she thought. It was all smoke and mirrors. Life is just life. People are just people. Once she accepted this, it made it easier. It dulled that longing she always had. Money, stability and power. That is why people did things. It made the world go round. She could never be driven by those things, but she could go through life doing small things to make herself happy, to make herself feel alright. Live for the small moments when she could go to the place in her mind that everything was right and happy and all those magical things existed.

_And you say the world, it doesn't fit with you_

_I don't believe you, you're so serene_

_Careening through the universe _

_Your axis on a tilt, you're guiltless and free_

_I hope you take a piece of me with you_

That was all fine, until this blonde creature appeared. And Emily knew she never really stopped believing in all of those things. She saw the way Naomi wanted to change the world; and she did it. She _was_ changing it. She saw the fire in her eyes as she talked about teaching those kids and being able to just be there for them. She remembered sitting in that pub the first night, and even in their conversations about nothing, Emily felt things shifting. Something in her life was changing and she couldn't stop it. This force that this girl brought with her felt like one of those magical ideas that she had tried to stop believing in so many times. She didn't know which one it was, but she felt like it was coming to prove her wrong. She had wanted the numbness to go away, but this thing, this force that was replacing that numbness…well, frankly, it scared the shit out of her.

_Where's the soul, I want to know_

_New York City is evil_

_The surface is everything, but I could never do that_

_Someone would see through that_

She looked towards Naomi, who was still so wrapped up in thought, just as Emily had been. She was absolutely gorgeous. She still looked a bit lost, but she had this wild look about her, probably a remnant of the fight. She looked like she was returning from this primal place that she had been surprised to find herself in at all. Suddenly the song was drawing to a close, and slowed for the final verse. Naomi's eyes turned towards Emily, but she didn't say anything. She looked like she wanted to ask something, but couldn't figure out what it was.

_Summer dies and the swells rise_

_The sun goes down in my eyes_

_See this rolling wave_

_Darkly coming_

_To take me _

_Home_

_And I've never been so alone_

_And I've never been so alive_

The whole place erupted in cheers and whistles. Emily joined in. She watched as Naomi smiled, seeming to be quite happy that her friends were such a hit. They started up again quickly, with a Johnny Cash cover, which Effy sang. Emily found it hilarious, yet surprisingly good.

Emily decided the silence had gone on long enough. She held up her second shot, which had been forgotten, and nodded towards Naomi. With an eye roll and a smirk, the blonde followed suit and they downed the shots once more.

"What is the most impulsive thing you've ever done?" Emily almost didn't realize she asked the question, but found herself extremely curious to know they answer.

"What?" Naomi looked taken aback. "Where did that come from?"

"I decided to continue our game from earlier. So…answer?"

Naomi blushed slightly. "Well, to be perfectly honest, it was probably that little display a few minutes ago. I've never punched anyone in the face before."

"Well…you did it quite well. Quite effective, really." Emily's grin doubled in size as her remark caused Naomi to laugh.

"Cook taught me how to punch when we were sixteen. He used to get into fights all the time, and I would get so pissed off at him. He always said he knew what he was doing and he could take care of himself. After a while, it got me thinking and I told him I wanted to know how to hit someone. Maybe I could even help him out when the day came that I would have to defend him from one of his scorned conquests." She chuckled. "I never thought I'd actually use that little lesson. I mean, I'm always getting angry and lashing out verbally when people are dicks, but I've never…" she trailed off, shaking her head slightly, as if she still couldn't believe it had happened.

"So…what happened?" Emily couldn't help but ask. She wanted to know so badly.

"I…I just…" Naomi looked at Emily with a pleading look. Emily refused to allow herself to hope what that look meant. That maybe Naomi was losing control. Like maybe, just like Emily, something was happening to her that she couldn't explain. So she tried to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"That Jared guy is a real prize, huh? Why is Matt friends with him?" What she really wanted to ask was, _"Why are you dating a guy who would have friends like that and who is so clearly beneath you?"_

"He has always been a complete twat. And Matt…I honestly don't know. I think…I don't know, I think I might…" she paused and looked at Emily, as if she was suddenly struck by an idea. "How do you do this?" Emily sat and stared, completely confused.

"Do what? What did I do?"

"I have known you for a total of four days and I am talking to you like you are one of them," she points up to the stage. Emily is partially stung by the comment, knowing that she will never know Naomi like those people on stage know her. But part of her likes that she has that effect on Naomi. She has a thought, and before she can stop, it comes pouring out.

"Look, I know we don't know each other well, and, well, clearly, we haven't known each other for long but…look, I really like you Naomi. I don't usually get along with people so swimmingly…or awesomely, whatever" she pauses, collecting herself. "I think we would be really really great friends, as lame as that sounds. And, you know, friends talk. But if you don't want to talk to me about something, or if I ask too many questions, which I tend to do, you can tell me. I won't be offended. Or if you don't want to be friends," Emily's heart clenches at the thought, "well, I'd get it. But I am a great friend. You'd be missing out." She raises her eyebrows and sends her a cheeky smile. 

Naomi chuckles, sits and stares at Emily for at least a full thirty seconds, looking thoughtful. Emily is sure she has fucked it all up. Freaked out the first friend she has made in a while. She has this terrible habit of saying exactly what she was thinking when she starts getting close to people. She knew people were supposed to be cool and collected. You were supposed to act like you care less than you do; use nonchalance to make people like you, and go from there. She had gotten so good atthat. But the intoxication she felt, both from the whisky and from the baffling girl in front of her threw her off. She prepared for the worst.

"You are so very odd. Has anyone ever told you that?"

Emily let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Yes, actually." Naomi, sighs, and puts on a straight face for a second, narrowing her eyes at Emily. Then she smirks again.

"I would love to be your friend Emily. As long as you can handle my apparently ever-present mood swings."

Emily laughs "I think they might be the best part. Keeps me entertained, that's for sure. Just don't hit me in the face again." After that, they fell into easy conversation, just listening to the band play and discussing random topics. Laughing about everything and nothing. They have a few more drinks and finally decide to abandon their table as Freddie announces that the next song is the last.

The sound bursts out of the speakers, feeling even louder to Emily than before. As soon as they stood up, Naomi began speeding towards the crowd. As Emily reached the edge of the sea of people, she was craning her neck, trying to catch a glimpse of peroxide hair that she had lost in the crowd. Suddenly, her hand is grabbed and she is pulled forward towards the stage. The band was closing with Tainted Love and Emily literally laughed out loud at the song choice. Everyone seemed to know every word, and the result was an entire room full of people screaming along with a gleeful Cook, who was bouncing around on stage in full form.

Emily looked over to see Naomi screaming along as well, and it suddenly struck her that their hands were still linked. They stood there, bouncing along to the music, laughing and screaming the words, as Cook acted like a conductor, leading the crowd into the chorus.

As the song came to an end, they cheered along with everyone else, and rushed back to the table to wait for the band to come and find them. Emily felt slightly drunk, and extremely giddy.

"Knock knock!"

Naomi laughed and rolled her eyes. "Really?"

"Just do it!"

"Ok, ok. Whose there?"

"Interrupting starfish!"

"Interrupting starfish, who?" Emily swung her hand out from under the table and covered Naomi's face with it. As she did every time she made the joke, she imagined what it would be like if an actual starfish could be used instead of her hand. She then burst out with uncontrollable laughter, not only at her ridiculous thought, but at Naomi's surprised face. They were both doubled over within seconds.

They continued giggling for a few minutes, unable to stop. They had leaned closer, holding onto each other for stability as they continued rolling around in the booth. As their laughter died down slowly, Emily became very aware of her hand sitting on Naomi's thigh. She could feel the heat of her skin through her jeans and seeming to radiate from everywhere on her body. Part of her mind was screaming for her to move her hand away, so as not to make Naomi uncomfortable, but as she looked up at Naomi, she didn't see discomfort. She didn't even see the fear she expected. She saw the faint remnants of the laughter from before, and she saw something she couldn't quite place. It made Naomi's eyes shine, as they bored directly back into Emily's. She tightened her grip on Naomi's thigh without even thinking. Naomi let out a ragged breath and they sat there, simmering in the now thick and hazy atmosphere.

"Hmm. That's new." Emily blinked, coming out of the cloud she was in, to look for the source of the interruption. She looked up to see a smirking Effy looking back at her. She found herself slightly annoyed, and wondered what it was that she was referring to.

"Drinks?" Both Naomi and Emily shook their heads silently. Effy shrugged and walked away smirk still in place.

Emily, looked back over at Naomi, expecting to see something like regret at the moment they had just shared, or embarrassment from being caught in it. But instead, the blonde had a smirk on her face, raising her bashful eyes from the table they had been trained on, up to Emily, causing Emily's stomach to flip.

_Yes, Effy, _Emily thought_. This certainly is new._


	7. Chapter 7

**I don't own skins.**

**Naomi**

She stepped out onto the street, glancing at the clouds that seemed to be moving by very quickly, and, instead, decided to focus on the shadows moving across the pavement at a similar pace. She remembered, in their old house, before her dad left, when she would wake up early on a Saturday and watch those same quickly moving shadows flit across the white lace curtains in her room. She used to love watching it, trying to guess when the light would come flooding back into the room, before disappearing again. She would just lie in her bed, enjoying the smell of breakfast that her father always cooked on Saturday mornings, warmly wrapped up in her sheets.

Her mind turned to Emily, as it had so many times since the night of the show. She had expected Emily to be as completely freaked out by her violent outburst as she was. She was terrified of the complete wild rage that erupted in her when Jared decided to call Emily a bitch. She was pretty sure that she had worked herself into a frenzy trying to keep controlled around the redhead, and it exploded the second that drunken idiot opened his mouth. Emily, however, seemed to be fine with it all, though slightly more thoughtful than usual afterwards.

She had mostly come to expect the excessive thinking. She loved watching those brown eyes stare ahead at nothing, as her brow furrowed adorably and she pulled her bottom lip into her mouth, sucking on it, before popping it back out, over and over.

She was so angry at Effy for coming back to the table when she did. She was also extremely grateful. She wasn't sure what was happening, and didn't think about much at that point, content to just sit near Emily, letting the static atmosphere around them crackle. They had continued on with their night, and after Emily sat quietly for a few minutes watching everyone interact, she charmed her way into everyone's heart immediately. Even Effy seemed to like her, which was rare.

"_So…she seems pretty interesting," Effy stated, watching Emily walk towards the bar to get the next round of drinks. _

"_Interesting? What does that mean?" She knew she sounded defensive, but she couldn't help it._

"_It means she's interesting. She's different."_

"_Whatever." She didn't want to continue the conversation, especially not with Effy. "Yeah, she is cool." Naomi tried to change the subject, but the alcohol hindered her from thinking of a new topic._

_Effy stared at her for a second, and Naomi tried to stare back, without looking guilty or fearful. "You seem…glowy."_

"_Um…excuse me? Did you just say glowy? I think you made that word up."_

"_Something is brighter about you."_

"_Okaaaay…"_

"_Here, gin and tonic." Emily appeared suddenly with three drinks in her hands. "I got them to put _two_ limes in it." She held up two fingers, and winked. Naomi grinned, despite the fact that she felt Effy's eyes on her. She immediately brushed the grin off and felt her face turn red._

The rest of the night got hazier and hazier. The memories all had a red tint to them. Naomi and Emily had shared "accidental" touches and random staring contests all night, even when the entire group was around. And they still interacted with everyone else in between. They all sat, talked and laughed for hours. Emily just seemed to fit right in. Cook thought she was hilarious. She seemed to be a relaxed enough person to click very easily and instantly with Freddie, and Panda loved everyone, so there wasn't much of a challenge there. She didn't think she had even seen Effy and Emily exchange more than a few words and some curious observant glances, but she didn't get any sort of unpleasant vibes between the two, so she thought it was going well.

She went to see Matt the next day and broke up with him without even raising her voice. His hangover seemed to cushion the emotional blow and Naomi couldn't even muster any sadness. She hadn't even thought of him since then. Her mind, instead, had been filled warm brown eyes and bright red hair. She was trying to decide what it all meant, trying to sort it out, but her thoughts were cut short as she had arrived at the library.

She walked in, breathing deeply, the smell of books calming her. She headed in the direction of the giggles coming from the children's section. In a tight knit cluster in the corner sat a group of children, crowded around an older blonde woman. They were all looking down at a few giant children's books trying to pick one. "I agree Jacob. I'm not a fan of that one either. The lead female spends the entire story perpetrating negative female stereotypes, brainwashing children everywhere." The small boy nodded his head earnestly, agreeing with everything, though he clearly didn't understand any of it. "Okay, well I like the one with the animals. How is everyone feeling about that one?" The children cheered a resounding 'Yes!' and Naomi made her presence known. "Naomi darling, you are cutting it close. Everyone, Naomi is here! We can start." They cheered, as she received little waves and hellos from tiny hands and voices.

Naomi had been helping her mother one Saturday morning every month with storytelling hour at the library. She was forced to be the puppeteer as her mother read the stories. At the end, she put on a tiny show with her own voices, usually adding on to the story they had already read, just to fill out the hour. She always felt so stupid, but got into it a little more after meeting the kids. Most of them had parents that worked all the time or weren't around. She remembered being that age after her father had gone, and her mother spent most of her time moping around the house or off yelling at protests. She understood how much these kids needed some actual fun in their lives. She liked that she could make these kids laugh a little just by being silly with a few glorified sock puppets.

She was acting out a particularly animated scene with what was supposed to be a lion and a bear, but was actually a cat and a dog. Their puppet selection was limited. She was using a deep and dopey voice for the bear and a growling voice for the lion. As the children giggled at a particularly silly line, she heard something else among their laughter. It sounded like a husky laugh, followed by a snort. She looked up and was met with a familiar pair of brown eyes full of laughter. She turned bright red and slipped off her chair a little. Luckily, they were almost through the story. As she finished, she felt especially stupid as she and her mother made their traditional bow to their rapt audience. She quickly stuffed the puppets into the bag and sauntered over to the redhead.

She was standing with her arms wrapped around two books held to her chest and her bag hanging off her shoulder. She looked gorgeous, as always, and bit her lip as Naomi nervously approached. "I had no idea you were such a performer. I felt like there were real animals in the library. Almost went to call Animal Control." Emily smirked and as much as Naomi wanted to be angry at her teasing, she couldn't help but return the smirk.

"Well, I'm a method actor. Spent a week in the woods for this role."

"That is dedication." Naomi glanced at the books in Emily's arms.

"Kafka and Jane Eyre. Bit of variety, huh?"

"Well I'm returning this," she held up the Kafka book, "if you ever want to know what it is like to be an insect, it is informative," she chuckled at her own joke, though Naomi had no idea what she was talking about, "…and checking this out…again. I've read it like ten times, just can't seem to get enough." Naomi saw another book sticking out of her bag.

"And that one?" Emily blushed.

"That one is mine…just some Harry Potter…you know. I'm a bit addicted, to be honest." She looked so cute, loaded down with books, and blushing while talking about Harry Potter.

"Well…what are you doing right now?" She didn't know why she was doing it, but for the umpteenth time this week, Naomi wanted to hang out with Emily Fitch.

"I…well I was mostly just going to check this out and then, well…go read it."

"Coffee?" She held her breath.

"What?"

"Um, would you like to get some coffee? I mean, I know you work at a coffee shop, so you might be tired of it or something but I just thought…"

"I never get tired of coffee."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooo

As they got their drinks and sat down at a table, Naomi realized it was the first time, other than their unfortunate first meeting, and playing soccer, that they were hanging out during daylight. Naomi was suddenly very nervous.

"So, what was that whole things about insects before?" It was the first thing she thought of.

Emily giggled, "Well, I was reading that collection of short stories by Kafka and one of them was Metamorphosis. It's about a guy who wakes up and has turned into a giant bug...like a beetle or something." Naomi just sits and stares at her, unable to tell if she is serious or not.

"Seriously?"

Emily just laughs loudly at Naomi, and from there they continue, as they usually seem to, smoothly and without realizing how long they are chatting. They sit and discuss books and movies and random stories for an hour.

"You know, I feel like I haven't seen you in a while."

Naomi agrees, but decides not to say so. "It's only been a few days. Less than a week, even."

"Yeah, I know. You're right." She shakes her head at herself, and Naomi almost tells her how much she has thought about her, just to make Emily stop looking so embarrassed like she did at that moment. Emily looked down at her coffee cup shyly, and looked back up at Naomi through her long eye lashes. "I had a great time the other night. It was really a lot of fun."

Naomi smiled widely, "I'm glad. We should do it again sometime. I mean, we go out a lot, you know, just to do random stuff. I think we're doing something tonight, actually. You could, um, join. I mean, if you don't have plans..." Naomi watched Emily's lips spread slowly into a wide grin, and without thinking, Naomi was smiling back.

"I could definitely do that, if they don't mind me tagging along."

"No, they love you. Be careful though…I think Cook might be developing a bit of a crush. Though, you are a bit tamer than Cook's usual type."

"Oh, well I'm not sure what that means…" Emily's face seemed to fall a bit, but she shook it off. "Well, you can tell Cook he is not really my type." She laughed a little to herself.

"Right of course. But what…um, what is your type?" She could not believe the question came out of her mouth. She felt her skin become warm and her eyes widen.

"Well…normally, um…girls," she smiled, fiddling with the lid on her cup, "but I won't say 'always', because I hate absolutes. And..Let's see," she looked up and to the left, making her thoughtful face, causing Naomi to smile. She watched her as she mulled it over. She loved the way she always thought for a few minutes about questions, to make sure she got her answer worked out thoroughly enough. Her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, and Naomi's eyes kept glancing towards the small hairs curling on the back of her neck, looking almost blonde as the light shone through them. The skin on there looked so smooth and Naomi had thought she had rarely seen anything as hypnotizing as Emily tracing light lines on her collar bone as she was deep in thought. She was wearing a somewhat form-fitting shirt that had four buttons at the top, three of which were unbuttoned. Naomi shook her head and trained her eyes on the table, before her mind let her eyes wander any further south. She didn't know what the hell was going on.

"Intelligent." Naomi had almost forgotten what Emily was answering. "And funny. Passionate. I don't know. Things always seem to surprise me, so specific physical attributes that I look for…well, I don't want to put my 'type'," she made air quotes, "in a box…but eyes. Eyes are important."

Naomi giggled a little, still looking down intently at the table, picking at a hole in the wood. "Ha, so they have to have eye balls. I guess that would help things." She looked up and saw Emily staring at her, not smiling, and not looking away.

"You know what I mean. They have to have that thing in their eyes. That thing that pulls you in, you know?" Suddenly Naomi's breath became shallower. She could barely move. She definitely couldn't look away. Emily's eyes were usually so warm, but right now they were smoldering. She had never felt so much from a look. She felt her ears become red and a slow burn began in her stomach.

"How did you know?"

"Know what?" Emily looked a little confused and startled by Naomi's sudden question.

Naomi considered, for half of a second, asking a different question than the one she was thinking. But felt a sudden desire to know. Like maybe it would help.

"That you…you know…liked girls. That you were gay…how did you know? If you don't mind me asking." Naomi was trying to make her voice sound less curious than she was.

"Oh, no, I don't mind." She sent a knowing smirk at Naomi. _No wonder she got along with Effy so well. _ Suddenly, though, her face became more serious. "It's not really that easy to explain. It wasn't easy. It never is." There was that knowing look again. "Long story short…I lied to myself, pretty convincingly; from the time I was twelve until the time I was twenty. The whole process was gradual…but so sudden too. One day, after being away at school for four years, away from Katie and my family and everything, when I had finally learned to be myself, something just clicked. Things slid into place. I freaked out at first, of course. It's a big thing to realize. All the times I had been so miserable, all those times I felt left out and different…" her voice trailed off and she zoned out for a second, shaking her head. They were both quiet, lost in their thoughts.

Naomi was going over everything Emily had said, about eyes and about things shifting into place. Her heart was beating fast. She needed to leave. She needed to leave now. "Look, Em, I just remembered. I have to…go to Effy's. Before we go out tonight, I mean. I am already running late. Um, can we come by your place at ten, maybe walk over to the club from your apartment? If you still wanted to come." Naomi was already standing and Emily looked a little worried.

"Um, that sounds good. Yeah." Naomi almost sat back down to try to alleviate Emily's clearly growing anxiety, but she couldn't.

"I'll see you later Emily. Tonight will be great, I promise." And she turned and left, without looking back.

She had been so happy when she met Emily today. It was so sudden and unexpected. Everything seemed great. And then all these things that Emily was saying, they made her think about all of those things that she had purposefully not been thinking about. _If I like Emily, does that mean that I am gay? Does it mean that I didn't know myself before? Or what if she is changing me. Who lets someone change them? Was she that kind of person. _Naomi knew that wasn't really what she was worried about. She could adjust to liking a girl. But Emily was something else. She had never felt this way about anyone. It seemed so right. So very right. But it was a risk. It's always a risk when anyone else is involved. When you get attached. Emily was making her think about things that she had never thought of consciously. It was making her realize all of these things that she was terrified of; that maybe she could have gone through her entire life without knowing.

She felt real. It was reality in a way that she had never experienced before. Everything was sharper and clearer, and all she seemed to be able to see was Emily. Her mind was flitting back and forth between the bright, warm, witty, completely open and honest girl that she had come to know, and the terrifying Emily. The girl who was quickly burrowing into her heart, where she could easily set up camp and blow the whole thing to pieces if she chose.

She knew tonight was going to change things. She could feel it as she walked down the street, seeing the sun set, feeling something shifting in the air. She looked at everything, but saw nothing, except colors blurring past.

She wished that she was seven again; when things were simple; when she could wake up, warm in her bed, watching the light dance by, from a safe place, where nothing could touch her, not even the brightness. The brightness that she was certain would consume her.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Thanks to everyone for all the reviews. I've never written anything before, so I really appreciate it. Hope this one is okay.**_

_**I don't own skins.**_

**Emily**

"Katie this is stupid."

"Stop being a bitch and do what I tell you. You'll be fine. It's so nice that when I actually get to see my sister, she insults me the entire time." Katie had been trying to help Emily for the past hour with picking out clothes. Unlike last time, Emily was actually attempting to listen to her sister's advice. She kept hearing Naomi in her mind, telling her that she was tame. She knew that she was only talking about the fact that she wasn't the type to crawl all over guys like Cook just for a quick shag, but she knew how people saw her. She didn't mind being seen as a good girl, a nice person, the funny one…or even just 'friend material' by most people. But she wanted Naomi to see her differently. She wanted to be sexy. She wanted to be attractive. She wanted to make her jaw drop, make her palms sweat, and make her heart beat fast. She wanted Naomi to see her as she saw Naomi. She had never wanted it so badly.

She was a little nervous about going to the club. She hadn't been to a club since she was eighteen. She hadn't liked it at the time, remembering Katie winking at her, before turning shag some random in the toilet, leaving her alone in the crowd with a guy whose name she had never learned. She remembered the people closing in on her, large hands touching her stomach, the stench of too much cologne stinging her nostrils. It had felt so wrong.

But she imagined what it would be like to have that sweaty guy replaced with Naomi. Katie's voice brought her out of the thought, before she got to enjoy it much.

"Okay, I think this is perfect." Emily reluctantly walked towards the mirror, surprised at seeing the figure before her. Since she and Katie had stopped wearing matching clothes at the age of eleven, she had always stuck with jeans and t-shirts, if at all possible, much more keen on being comfortable than fashionable. Katie had bordered on whorish when she was younger, but had mellowed out slightly in the past few years, considering herself quite well versed in fashion. Still, Emily was expecting to look like a complete idiot, and possibly, a bit of a slut. Though Katie had become much more restrained in the clothing choices lately, she still had her moments, and the fear hadn't subsided.

She had not expected what she saw.

Katie allowed her to wear black skinny jeans instead of a skirt, and gave her a silky green top that actually felt wonderful on Emily's skin. Katie had made her eyes smoky and had done something with eye shadow that made her eyes, which she usually found to be a boring shade of brown, really pop. She even lent her a necklace, which she hadn't done since they were ten and Emily accidentally dropped one of her favorite necklaces in a lake. She actually thought she looked pretty good and felt proud of herself for a second, and then impressed with her sister.

"Katie, I actually look…well…great." She heard Katie scoff loudly.

"Of course you do. We are twins." She rolled her eyes, as if that explained everything. "I mean, it's only a nice top, but you always seem so uncomfortable in any thing too dressy. It ruins it." She rolled her eyes, looking annoyed. "It _is_ nice to see you try, though." She seemed genuinely pleased.

"I have tried before!" She hadn't really. She knew that. She met Katie's eyes, looking at her with one eyebrows raised, and Emily nodded and gave in. She just never really cared much about what she was wearing. She tried, when she was younger, to look 'cool' and to look like she wasn't trying, but she discovered it was easier to _actually_ not try. She found most people hadn't really noticed what she was wearing anyway. Until tonight. When she stopped to think about the evening ahead, she became so nervous, her hands began to shake. Suddenly, she felt her fingers gripped around a wine glass being shoved towards her.

"Ems, you need a drink. Relax, yeah? If you think you are hot, you can be hot. Simple. What is the big deal?"

Emily hadn't actually told her sister much about Naomi. She had mentioned her before, as her new friend, and Katie had seen her once, when Naomi came to pick her up before the show. She was just a little scared of what she might say. Katie hadn't been the most supportive when Emily had come out to her a few years ago. She was always glad she didn't come out when she was in high school, remembering Katie as being very "full on", imagining how difficult her life would have been. She was afraid to tell Katie, if she was honest. If nothing ever happened with Naomi or if Katie decided to become her old self and take hold of the situation…Emily didn't know if she could handle it right now.

Katie and Emily had each always been pretty observant. It was something they shared, but while Emily was always thinking about things, constantly over-analyzing situations, Katie had always been the action twin. She always did something about her thoughts, went after things she wanted, but continued to think about it, so that if she changed her mind, she simply changed her action. When Emily had come out, Katie spent most of her time helping her mother find a nice boy for Emily, until she came to her senses, and, in the same day she took Emily out and tried to find Emily her first girlfriend. And she did. It's how she met Jackie.

She was always envious of Katie's ability to act, while Emily mostly just reacted. Emily always thought about things, constantly going through options, very terrible at actually making choices. And most of her real choices, she made without thinking much, like when she chose to go to University across the country or when she decided to tell Katie about her propensity for liking girls. Emily thought Katie might actually be able to help in this situation, and maybe help her figure out what to do about all of this insanity.

"Katie. I'm so screwed."

She had explained everything to Katie, who promptly explained that Emily always over-thought things and insisted that Emily "grow a spine and get some" before giving her an actual genuine smile, telling her she would be fine, chugging her wine, and heading out to a party she had planned for work. As much as Katie had her very specific way with words, she had actually helped Emily collect herself. Even made her feel a little braver. Nothing like a boost of Fitch confidence to get ready for a night out.

She was startled out of her nervous thoughts by a knock at the door. She headed towards it, thinking how glad she was that she had talked Katie out of the heels. She was positive that her nerves in combination with heels would have had her sprawled out on the floor by now.

As she opened the door, she was surprised to find a smirking Effy standing there, staring at her. "Um, hi? Hey Effy."

"Hey." She looked her up and down, raising her eyebrows. "You look nice." Emily could not help but blush a little, having an irksome feeling that Effy knew why she had made more of an effort this evening. On the night of the show, Effy had given Emily so many different pointed looks, sometimes seeming to be asking questions with her eyes, other times giving her challenging glances. Emily was not used to being examined so closely and it made her feel both very uncomfortable and slightly nervous.

"Where is Naomi?"

"Smoking." She smirked as she said it. Emily had a fleeting memory of Naomi telling her that smoking was a nervous habit for her. She sighed deeply, silently preparing herself for the night.

"Well…I guess we should head out then." Emily felt her heart beat a little faster knowing that Naomi was downstairs. As she walked into the hall and turned to lock the door, Effy spoke.

"Don't let her play games with you." Emily was struck by how random the statement was, but she knew what she was talking about. And the thought had crossed her mind before. She could tell that there was something between her and Naomi, but she knew Naomi was confused about what to do with those feelings. She had seen her actually flirt with her the night of the show, and then basically run screaming when the topic of liking girls came up at coffee today. She had a feeling that she had been coming on a bit strong. Not only did it clearly shock and freak Naomi out, it surprised Emily as well. Outright flirting wasn't something she had ever done, but Naomi seemed to be bringing about all sorts of new things in Emily. She had never felt like this. She knew that she wanted something to happen, she just wasn't sure what.

However, Effy's comment made her realize her exactly what she didn't want.

"I don't play games unless I want to." And she didn't. If it came to it, Emily didn't think she was capable of playing games with her heart, especially where Naomi was concerned.

They headed down the stairs, opening the door at the bottom to the outside. In front of her, facing away from them, leaning against the light post, stood Naomi. Her hair was curled in ringlets, and pulled back slightly. She could see a few curls hanging lightly on the back of her neck. She was wearing a simple, tight, strapless navy dress that hugged her hips and exposed just enough skin. Emily's eyes took in the tense muscles of Naomi's exposed shoulders, falling lower to the curve of her hips. She threw her cigarette to the ground, stepping on it, causing Emily's eyes to travel downward, taking in Naomi's long legs, from bottom to top. Her staring session ended on Naomi's perfect ass. A scenario ran through Emily's mind in which she was allowed to walk up behind the blonde and place her hands on either side of Naomi's body. Tracing her hands up and down, learning the way her curves felt under her skin. _I bet she feels wonderful._ Emily was slightly aware of a light feeling in her head, and recalled the few glasses of wine she had drank earlier.

Effy cleared her throat causing Emily to blush and look away. Naomi spun around, and Emily's breath caught. Her shocked blue eyes roamed up Emily's body with a hungry look in them, stopping a little longer than necessary on Emily's cleavage. Emily reminded herself to thank Katie later. Her sister had said that the top left just enough to the imagination. Emily thought Naomi's imagination was working quite well at the moment. Emily's heart beat rapidly, feeling those eyes on her. As she met Emily's own eyes, her cheeks turned pink and she looked away. "Hey Ems. Alright?"

"Yeah, great. You?" She cursed herself for the huskiness in her voice.

"Okay, enough perving. The line is going to be ridiculous." Effy walked past them, leading the way, and Emily grinned as Naomi scowled in Effy's direction. They walked in silence, Emily's hopes falling quickly. Naomi had looked straight forward or towards the ground the entire time they walked, barely saying two words. They reached the club quickly and made their way to the front of the line. The tall dark guy, allowing people in, smiled widely as they approached. "Naomi! Effy! Hello," said, eyes landing on Emily, "I am Thomas! So nice to meet you!" His smile was so genuine; Emily could not help but immediately reach out her own hand to shake his.

"I'm Emily. Nice to meet you." She smiled as he waved them in, ignoring the groans from people waiting behind them.

The club was surprisingly full and, as they walked further in, the music became less for her ears and more for her body. Cook jumped impressively in the air upon seeing them and hopped over to them putting an arm each around Effy and Naomi. "How are my girls this evening? Woah! Ems!" He looked her up and down, wiggling his tongue and cocking his eye brows at her suggestively.

Emily chuckled, "Very unlikely Cook."

"As long as it's not impossible, babe, I'll be around." He chuckles to himself. "Alright! Shots!" He turned to the bar, where he had ten shots lined up in front of them. "Two for everyone! Freddie, come on, mate." Freddie left his chat with a few sketchy guys in the corner, greeting everyone with a wave and a smile. As they all took the first, Cook howled, Naomi spluttered, and Effy looked bored. Emily made a face but focused on the burn in her throat.

"Em," Naomi turned to her, her eyes had gone from icy to burning in seconds. "Let's dance." She downed her shot, and looked at Emily expectantly. Emily was confused, but couldn't deny those eyes. This shot went down smoother than the last, and no sooner had she put the glass down, she felt a warm hand on her wrist pulling her towards the throng of dancing people.

The beat was exploding from speakers all around them. She was pulled to the middle of the floor, as they slowed. They stood for a moment, the now familiar tension filling the space between them. Emily looked into Naomi's eyes, trying to read the determined and slightly confused look she saw there. They began moving slowly swaying to the beat. Effy slowly danced up to them, Cook behind her, holding out something to Naomi. They traded whatever it was, Effy reaching over to whisper something Naomi's ear, and she danced away, leaving Cook behind and leaving Naomi with a frustrated look on her face. Cook looked over Naomi, who was now dancing more with her entire body, and moved slowly forward.

Suddenly, Naomi's eyes became much more sultry, but she was no longer looking towards Emily. She raised her eyebrows at Cook and danced towards him, putting her arms around his neck, as they began dancing very closely with each other. He seemed surprised at first, but immediately lost himself in the moment. His hands began grabbing and roaming, leaving Emily standing completely still, feeling a churning feeling rise from the pit of her stomach. She watched his hands running themselves all over Naomi's body as she suddenly turned in his arms, his hands now on her stomach, his lips in her hair. As she opened her eyes, she looked directly at Emily, a defiant expression fixed on her face.

Naomi was now smirking. She put a small white pill on the tip of her finger and slipped it in her mouth slowly, tugging her lip down slightly as she went, making Emily swallow hard. She put another one on the tip of the same finger and danced more towards Emily, pulling Cook willingly with her. Naomi held her finger up with the pill sitting atop it, centimeters from Emily's mouth. She looked up to see Naomi's smirk gone, her mouth partially open, waiting. Before she thought too much about what she was doing, she leant forward, her eyes never leaving the blue ones trained on her own. She covered the tip of Naomi's finger with her mouth, taking the pill, sucking a little more than necessary as she pulled away. Naomi held her finger still, her face frozen, her eyes wide and dark.

Seeing Naomi's reaction, remembering Katie's words of encouragement from earlier (_If you think you're hot, you can be hot_), and Effy's advice (_Don't let her play games with _you), Emily acted before she thought. She began swaying her hips to the beat, smiling crookedly, and never severing eye contact. She began moving her body to the beat, feeling the fabric of her shirt slide over her skin. She raised her hands in front of her slightly, crossing her wrists, pressing her breasts together slightly. Naomi's face was frozen, watching Emily move with a gleaming confusion and undisguised lust.

Cook was still rubbing his hands on Naomi's stomach, getting closer and closer to her chest, when Emily stopped thinking and acted. She stepped forward, smiling sweetly, and placed her hand on Cook's arm. "Cook. I really, really need a drink. You think you can get one for me?" He looked a little confused, but shrugged, and agreed.

"Sure Red," he winked, "I can't have you here and sober, can I!" He detached himself from Naomi, allowing Emily to release a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, and sauntered off to the bar.

Emily reached forward, sliding closer to Naomi's body, and placed her hands on the girl's hips. She leaned over, inhaling the scent of Naomi as she went, and breathed into her ear, "Dance with me." She felt Naomi shiver at her words.

Naomi looked frightened. She allowed Emily guide her hips with her own, as Naomi raised her now shaking hands slowly. Emily watched every movement as Naomi's fingers inched closer to Emily's arms. As she touched her skin, Naomi seemed to let out a breath, though Emily couldn't actually hear it. Her body seemed to relax slightly, and instead of letting her fingers sit lightly on Emily's arms any longer, she pressed her palms to Emily's skin. She slowly ran her hands up towards her elbows. Emily could think of nothing else but Naomi's hands on her, feeling goosebumps rise in the wake of Naomi's skin running over her own. They stood there, like that, for an undetermined time. Cook never returned. Emily thought, as she had hoped, he probably got caught up with some girl at the bar.

Suddenly, the song changed. The beat became thick, slow and heavy. Emily felt whatever drugs Naomi had given her flowing through her, the beat taking over every part of her body. She turned in Naomi's arms, copying Naomi's action from earlier with Cook, and pressed herself into Naomi's front, feeling breasts pressed into her back. They were grinding slowly into each other, Naomi's hands suddenly seeming to act of their own accord. They were moving slowly, so slowly Emily thought she would explode, and all she could do was press herself into the girl behind her more firmly and move to the beat. It felt as if it were pulsing through each of their bones, causing them to vibrate at the same frequency. She felt Naomi breath on the curve of her neck, her warm breath setting fire to her skin. She felt Naomi's hands on the outside of her thighs, slowly trailing upward, stopping at her hips, gripping them tightly. Emily rolled her head back, resting it on the shoulder she found there, focusing on the hands now easing over the sides of her stomach, meeting each other in the middle and then separating to rest on her ribs, one right below each of her breasts.

She could feel nothing but Naomi, everywhere. Hands, breasts, thighs pressed against her own. Naomi's lips grazed over Emily's neck and she felt the girl behind her release a low moan. She felt the air on her neck and the vibration through Naomi's body. Fire had igniting in her lower stomach, spreading throughout her body. She felt an ache between her legs that was beginning to throb. Her heart pounded loudly. She almost felt like it had become part of the beat. Emily raised her hand to reach behind her, over her shoulder, to run her hand over the side of Naomi's neck, her fingers tingling from the contact. She turned her face to the side slightly, feeling Naomi's lips just barely brushing her check, seeing Naomi's eyes, lit up in the blinking colored lights, looking over Emily's face. Emily slowly turned her body around in Naomi's arms, feeling Naomi's hands gliding across her stomach to her back. Their faces were suddenly centimeters from each other, her hands resting on Naomi's upper arms. She looked at Naomi's eyes, seeing a rawness there that she hadn't seen before. She looked so confused as her eyes traveled down to Emily's lips. Naomi bit her lip, as Emily licked her own.

Emily was struck by something at that moment. Naomi didn't look drunk anymore, and she didn't feel very drunk anymore either. She wasn't sure how long they had been dancing, but she didn't even feel the drugs very much at this point. But the atmosphere was making her fuzzy, not to mention the girl in front of her eyeing her lips, completely caught in the moment. She stepped back, grabbed Naomi's wrist and dragged her away from the dance floor. She saw the door, heading straight towards it, seeing Effy as she walked. She could have sworn she saw an actual smile on her usually completely emotionless face.

As the air hit her lungs, Emily realized that she wasn't drunk at all. The drugs were only being slightly felt at this point. She looked around to see Naomi standing in front of her, breathing heavily.

"What are you doing?"

"I need to say something." _You can do this. You have to do this._

"No, I mean…What are you doing to me?"

"I'm not d-"

"NO! I punched someone in the fucking face! I start talking to you and can't control my words! I can't stop thinking about you and for all I know you are messing with me! What just happened in there?"

"I'm not messing with you." She hated how small her voice sounded.

Naomi just stood in silence, seeming surprised by her own outburst.

Emily paused, breathing deeply. "I need to say something."

"Yeah, you mentioned…so?" Emily could tell Naomi was trying to be short, but she looked more fearful than anything else.

"I…I just…" Emily was losing her nerve, she could feel it. _No. You can do this._ "I didn't want it to be like that. I didn't want it to happen like that. I don't even know why…"

"Didn't want what to happen?"

"No. Don't do that. I'm not dancing around this…well you know…I was 'dancing' but I'm not…ugh, Jesus! "

Naomi looked down, looking guilty, but she glanced back up, waiting for an answer.

"This thing between us…this isn't just…lust. I mean, that is definitely there, but…I know you feel it. I saw you feeling it. But, this is something strong. It's something special." She paused to collect herself, trying to push aside her nervousness. "Something almost happened. Just now. I want you to know that when I…" Emily takes a step forward, placing her hand on Naomi's hip, reaching up to touch her face. "When I do what I am about to do…it's not just because I can barely keep my hands off of you. And it's not just because I can't stop thinking about you. It's not because you let Cook feel you up," Emily felt a quick surge of rage at the memory, but it passed, "It's not because I am drunk, or high or caught up in a moment. Because I am not. All those things can be great, but I can see you. And you would find an excuse. I'm not letting you push me away with Cook. And I cant let you have one of those excuses. This is happening because…well, because I like you. And I feel something so fucking…so fucking real here. I want something from this. And if you don't, you have to tell me. You have to stop me if you don't want this." Naomi just looked back at Emily, who was once again convinced that she shared too much…But she didn't care right now. She had started this and she was going to finish it.

She moved her body closer to Naomi's. There was no pulsating music out here; no flashing lights. There was a street lamp and the moon, lighting both their faces. They saw each other clearly and neither looked away. As Emily slowly leaned in, she looked in Naomi's eyes once more. She studied the small freckles on her nose and she looked as her lip quivered slightly, trembling as Naomi's tongue darted out to wet it. "Please tell me to stop." She just felt Naomi's breath on her lips, and saw her shake her head, very lightly. She closed the distance as she breathed in, and it was like she was breathing properly for the first time.

She felt Naomi's lips press against her own, so gently and slowly, she could focus on nothing but how soft they felt, and how much they fit against Emily's. Naomi, to Emily's surprise, ran her tongue across Emily's top lip, so slowly, like she was tasting it. Emily nearly lost it. She deepened the kiss, realeasing a moan, tasting every part of Naomi's mouth, relishing in the feel of Naomi's tongue on her own, unable to stop continuously taking Naomi's bottom lip in her mouth and sucking on it. Everything felt so big, like her world was crumbling and this entirely new one was springing up around her. Her heart felt like it was ready to burst out of her chest. It was as if she had just jumped off a cliff and was falling rapidly, holding on to nothing but Naomi.

The ache between her legs was just as strong as before and her heart was bursting just as loudly, but she just stood there and felt it all. Naomi's hands gently gripping her neck, her own hands circling Naomi's waist, every place her body was touching Naomi's was on fire. She knew that this moment couldn't last forever, but she wanted to hold onto it for as long as possible.

She wanted to fall with Naomi for as long as possible, even though she knew it might all go to hell when they hit the ground.


	9. Chapter 9

**_I dont own skins._**

**Emily**

_Emily pressed her ear against the wall, not having to strain very much to hear the raised voices on the other side._

"_Where were you Rob? I know you weren't at work! I called." Her mother's voice was weak and shrill. She had never heard that desperation in it before._

"_I went out for a drink with the boys. Is that a crime?" He sounded tired. Probably because it was the fourth time this week they had fought. Ever since the gym had gone to shit, it was non-stop with these two. Tonight was particularly loud and, though Katie could sleep through anything, Emily was awoken immediately, giving up on sleep, despite a test she had in history the next day._

"_You said you were coming home for dinner and you never showed up? How do you think that makes me feel?"_

"_I don't know! Maybe if you ever actually talked about how you feel, other than disappointed and angry, we wouldn't be having this discussion!"_

"_Don't change the subject! You broke your promise!"_

_They went back and forth for hours, taking cheap shots at each other, saying terrible things just to hurt one another. Emily remembered seeing them when she was five, running into their room with Katie in the morning, cuddling up with them on the bed. She always thought her mother looked so happy on those mornings; curled up with her dad, putting a giggling Katie and Emily between them. They always seemed so happy; so perfect. She used to think they were. But it seemed like all of that only ever led to this. Ten years later, they knew everything about each other, had a life together, and never seemed to stop arguing. When they weren't fighting, her mom was snapping at everyone, and her dad was walking around looking mopey and defeated. Wasn't that sort of love supposed to last? Weren't they supposed to be able to work through these things?_

_She heard silence through the wall. And she laid down in her bed, thinking. She couldn't stand when people did things like that to each other. She would never understand how they could hurt each other on purpose. It made her stomach hurt to think about it. Why were they messing it all up so much? Why couldn't they just love each other?_

_She never wanted to be like that. She couldn't stand it. She almost fell apart just knowing that her parents were hurting so much. When she fell in love, she would never try to hurt anyone, no matter how mad she was. Why couldn't they just let themselves be happy? _

_00000000000000000000000000_

"_Look Emsy. I know I was a bitch okay. I get it. But I love you, you know. I want you to be happy. And I think you need to get some action to be happy." Emily couldn't help but laugh out loud and roll her eyes. Katie always thought getting some would make things a little brighter. _

"_Katie, you literally just introduced me to that Tommy kid twelve hours ago. And now you…what?...want to introduce me to girl…is this about the whole 'getting it out of your system' thing." Emily remembered Katie using the phrase a few days after she came out to her sister; she remembered crying for an hour afterwards._

"_Ems, no." She saw an actual genuine look of guilt on Katie's face, which was an extremely rare experience. She had only seen it a handful of times in their 23 years. "Look, I just want you to find someone. You've always been so…you know, into all that romantic shit and…so good at, like, being close to people…when you actually talk to them. You deserve to have someone." Katie looked a little embarrassed. Katie sighed as Emily wrapped her in a hug._

"_Kay, you are such a sentimental little shit sometimes." They laughed a bit, as they waited in line at the club._

_When they walked in, they went to the bar and grabbed a few drinks. Emily's nerves were getting the best of her. They drank for an hour, becoming solidly drunk before heading out to dance. Emily felt a soft hand on her arm, and turned to see the owner. She was met with dark brown eyes, darker than her own. The hair falling on her shoulders was also a deep brown, the lights bouncing off of it. The girl smiled shyly at her and leaned over, "Can we dance?"_

_Emily smiled and nodded her head._

_Her name was Jackie._

_She was nice. They were well suited for each other for the most part. They never really talked about anything very deep. Never fought. They hung out a lot, watching TV and talking about stupid things. They laughed and had fun together. It was never difficult to be with her. She never got nervous around her or felt like she had to see her. After a few months of dating her, she stopped missing her when she didn't see her for a few days._

_When they slept together for the first time, it was…really great, actually. Jackie was absolutely gorgeous and Emily was nothing if not appreciative of the beauty of a pretty girl. Emily found out she, herself, was actually very good in bed…something she had not expected. Jackie had always told her that she was so intense and unrestrained; that she had never been with anyone like her. Emily thought, however, that she was misleading her. She couldn't help how she seemed. That she had a certain intensity about her that she couldn't seem to turn off, which happened to transfer over to some of their more intimate activities. In conversations, sometimes it freaked people out. In this instance, it was making something seem like more than it was. She knew after a month that she was going to break this girl's heart, so she put of the break up for five more months. She felt like such a coward._

_When she did it, Jackie yelled for an hour, just as she expected._

"_You are such a hypocrite! For someone who is so much about honesty and cutting all the bullshit, you can't even give me more of a reason than, 'It doesn't feel right'!" She was screaming with tears streaming down her face. It hurt Emily. Jackie had been nothing but sweet to her, and she was dumping her because…what? She felt…bored? She didn't love her, so why did this hurt so much?_

_They slept together a few times after that, more for comfort than anything. Emily knew she shouldn't, but she felt so alone sometimes. It was nice to have someone want her. _

_She looked at Jackie when they would part each time. She would see the pain in her eyes. _This is what this shit does to you. You hurt or you hurt someone. And none of it is even real. None if it lasts._ That's all she thought of every single time she saw those dark eyes say goodbye. And she remembered being fifteen, listening to her parent's through the wall. _

__

Emily sat in her living room with a beer in hand, Damien Rice blaring through the speakers, staring at her wall._ This isn't how this is supposed to be._ She had been sitting there for an hour.

The night before she had been kissing this beautiful, sexy, passionate wonderful girl like her life depended on it; like she would never stop. But then she did. And Naomi didn't run, as she expected her to. They went back inside, and danced the rest of the night away, kissing and touching each other, letting the world melt away for a few hours. When Emily went home, she fell asleep happy, feeling her entire body tingling. Neither one of them had drank anything for the rest of the night, too busy feeling the air around them spark and crackle. Naomi was sober and drove home from Emily's. They said goodnight, neither of them ready for anything more that night. She just drifted off into an easy slumber, thinking about the night she had.

When she woke, she lay there staring at the ceiling. She thought about her history with relationships…and realized she didn't have much. She never dated in school. Always felt like a complete idiot for it. Sometimes she felt like she didn't develop certain social skills because of it. Like she didn't know how it was supposed to go. She learned everything from her parents, Katie, and stories.

Her parents had stayed married for 25 years in a lukewarm marriage. They barely even talked anymore. Emily was pretty sure they didn't sleep in the same room anymore.

Katie had shagged more guys than Emily could remember when they were younger, and now seemed to be off them for a while. When she went to University, she had decided to try life without boys, trying to figure out who she was. And it actually seemed to work for her.

And then there were her books, her television, and her movies. They always told stories of a special circumstance, of special couple, people swept away. Special love. Emily had seen all of it so many times, it didn't seem special anymore. It all seemed contrived. She had always hoped it was real, but never saw any real evidence. She wasn't sure how she had become so jaded after being in just one relationship.

But now. Now there was Naomi. She was bursting from happiness. She didn't know it could actually feel like this, like she wanted to see someone all the time, like she fit with someone so perfectly. She felt more for Naomi in two weeks than she felt for Jackie in six months. But was she just inventing it all in her head? Wasn't all this stuff just a chemical reaction that would fade? She remembered making Jackie get that terrible, painful look in her eyes. She didn't know if she could handle seeing that look in Naomi's eyes. _What are you doing? Don't over think this. Go with it. Feel it. Be happy, you idiot._

Her phone brought her out of her thoughts. As she picked it up, she saw that it was none other than the very girl that had been occupying her thoughts for the past eighteen hours.

"Hello?"

"Hey there." She sounded shy and nervous.

Emily giggled into the phone. "How are you?"

"Oh you know. Really, really great. Had a pretty great night."

"Did you? How so?" She couldn't help but flirt with this girl. It felt odd that it came so natural with Naomi.

"Well, I made out with this really beautiful girl…"

"Wow. Lucky girl." She heard airy laughter on the other end of the line and she smiled.

"Look, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me tonight. I'm going to see Cook play…soccer, not, like, music." Emily chuckled at Naomi's nervousness. She didn't even know he played. She could see it now, though. Now that she thought about it. He had that cockiness about him that she came to associate with most male soccer players who were any good.

"Sure." She paused. "Is this like a date?"

"No!" Emily's heart sank a little. "I mean…I sort of wanted to go on an actual date on, um, on another night. I had, sort of, a plan." Emily could almost hear her blushing through the phone.

"Well, well. Who knew you were so romantic, huh?"

"Heh, yeah. So can I come around at about six to get you?"

"Sure. That sounds wonderful."

Emily opened her door to a loud knock. She was shocked to find, not Naomi, but Jackie on the other side._ Shit. Its been about…yup, three works. Like clockwork._ Jackie had always come around every three weeks, saying she wanted to pick up something she forgot, or wanting to try to be friends, usually angling for something more. They would end up shagging, Jackie would end up crying and yelling. It was always terrible.

Her disappointment must have shown on her face. "Well, you sure do look happy to see me." She walked in without being invited.

"Jack, look, I sort of have plans. Was there something that you needed?"

"I just came by to get some of my clothes." Without hesitation, Emily walked over to get the box sitting in the corner of her kitchen. She had gone through her apartment and gathered every single thing she could find that Jackie might claim as her own.

"Here. It's all here." Jackie held the box that was more or less shoved in her arms. She looked slightly taken aback.

"Look Em," she set the box down on the table, "I know that you said we couldn't do this…but every time I come here, something happens. I don't think we can ignore that. It means something, doesn't it?"

_Shit. Fuck. Shit. Naomi is going to be here any minute._

"Look, it does mean something. It means that I care about you. But we cannot date anymore. We are not together. I know you don't see it, but it wasn't working. It never really worked." She had never been so blunt with Jackie, always tiptoeing around her, trying not to break her.

"You cannot tell me you don't feel anything. You are not even trying." She took a step closer. Unfortunately, Emily was already close to a wall, so she was sort of stuck in a corner. She didn't like being so close to her. It felt wrong.

"No!" Emily held her arms out to Jackie's shoulders, trying to push her back. Jackie forced herself onto Emily's lips. It felt all wrong. Her lips didn't feel the same as the one's she wanted. She didn't have that certain scent she desired. Her eyes weren't the burning blue she had been longing for. Emily pushed her back harder, making her stumble back a few steps. Jackie's eyes were full of hurt and confusion. Emily couldn't care at the moment.

"We are not doing this! I don't want you like that. You can't come around here anymore. We are just…we are not doing this. It's not fair to either of us." Jackie looked shocked. Emily couldn't blame her. She had never once raised her voice around Jackie. She was always the calm, cool, and collected one. She was always in control. But Emily knew she needed to be firm this time.

She saw the tears forming. "Fine. I'll go. But I know you will get lonely. And we were good together. You know it." Emily simply shook her head, walked to the door, and opened it to let her out. As she swung it open, she found Naomi standing in front of her, smiling brightly.

"Hey!" Despite the current situation, she felt her face light up upon seeing her.

"Oh, I see. This is the next conquest. Got it." Jackie walked up behind her. Emily's face fell, anger rising up quickly.

"Leave." She glanced sideways to see Jackie smirking, looking Naomi up and down.

"Okay, okay." She walked forward, running one finger along Emily's arm, putting her face close to Emily's ear. "I had fun. Until next time, yeah?" Emily rolled her eyes, as Jackie walked past her and out into the hallway. She looked up into Naomi's eyes. They had changed from bright and smiling, to confused and in pain.

"Naomi, look, that wasn't what it seemed like. I promise." Naomi had stood completely still.

"It seemed like you just hooked up with, um…whoever that was." Naomi's voice wasn't even angry or accusing. It was like she was stating a fact.

"It was Jackie, my ex. And, like I said, it wasn't what it seemed." She stepped forward, gently gripping Naomi's hand and pulling her in the door. Thankfully, Naomi let her. "She came by and picked up a few things and…she wanted to, um, you know. Start things up again. She was just trying to piss me off for rejecting her."

"Why would she want that? Hasn't it been a while since you guys dated?"

"Well, yeah…but I guess there have been a few times…when things happened." Emily began panicking slightly. Not even Katie knew about the few post-break up hookups between her and Jackie. It was one of those things she planned on never telling anyone. She felt so guilty about it. Ashamed.

"Oh…right." She seemed to be in thought for a few minutes. "Did she kiss you?" The question threw Emily off a little. She stood there, mouth open, trying to think of how to answer it tactfully.

"Um, she did. But I stopped her straight away. I pushed her off and told her she couldn't come around anymore. Nothing else happened. I wouldn't do that." Emily's heart was hurting a little. She despised drama, avoided it at all costs. But, somehow, she had fallen directly into it this time. She saw Naomi's eyes become hard.

"Wouldn't do what? I mean it's not like you have any obligations or anything, right?" Before Emily could respond, Naomi pasted a fake smile on her face. "Come on, we don't want to be late!"

They drove in silence. Emily wasn't quite sure how this had happened. She was so happy, albeit, confused, just a few hours ago. And now she was sitting in a silent car, having inadvertently hurt this beautiful girl next to her, and she didn't know what to say. She didn't think she had really done anything wrong. The more she thought about it, the more she became convinced that this is just what happens. This is why love and all of that crap was just that: crap. It all went to hell when people became insecure and scared. People were all just weak and torn between wanting to guard their hearts and needing someone to want them.

They pulled up to the field and got out. Naomi began walking towards the field, not bothering to wait for Emily. _Just get through the game, and then you can let her fuck off like she clearly wants to. It was stupid to think this would be any different than anything else._

They sat in the bleachers, seeing that the game had already started. Cook waved at them, before focusing back on the game. He was actually really great. He had a certain confidence on the ball, and definitely had a presence on the pitch. It was almost impossible for people to push him off of the ball with out getting a penalty or even carded.

"He is really great. For some reason, I thought he would be more…rough. All over the place, you know?"

Naomi still didn't seem too pleased with the redhead, but they were both caught up in the game and seemed to have an unspoken agreement to be able to discuss it. "He used to be. He got kicked off his club team as a kid. He took all his aggression out on the other team. He just couldn't channel it like he can now. He used to always just do whatever the fuck he wanted all the time. Never really cared. Its probably why we became friends in the first place." Emily wasn't sure where Naomi was going with this, but saw her eyes, which had been cold up until now, becoming lit up again, so she let her continue. "We had a thing for a while. Both of us just not giving a fuck about anything, you know. Things were easier back then." Naomi closed her eyes, shook her head, and continued to watch the game, leaving silence between them again.

As half time rolled around, Naomi went down to the sideline to say hey to Cook, telling Emily she would be back. Naomi walked up and wrapped her arms around Cook, who seemed to be just as shocked as Emily was, watching from the stands. As she talked to him, she touched his arm, twirled her hair, flirted mercilessly. _Are you fucking serious? _Emily's hands were balled up into fists, her knuckles white, her mouth set in a hard line. As Naomi came back, she sat down crossing one leg over another next to Emily. She looked icy, like she didn't give a fuck about anything. Emily knew she was getting a glimpse of what Naomi used to be. The gang had jokingly talked about it that night at the show. They called her the 'ice queen.' Emily couldn't stand it. But she had already done her part to fight for whatever this was. And Naomi, at the first sign of trouble, had decided to be like every other person in the world and get even. They were just going to hurt each other, like her parents had, like Katie had always done with all of her man-whores. At least Jackie could never hurt her like that.

"Look, I'm kind of tired. Not feeling too great. I think I'm gonna head home. I can grab a cab or something." Emily stood up abruptly.

"What? But the game isn't over." Naomi seemed utterly confused, and stood up to follow Emily out.

She reached out to grab Emily's wrist. "Why are you leaving?"

"I told you, I don't feel well…" she could feel more words coming out of her mouth, as usual, without her consent, "I can't do this." _Damnit, just be a normal passive aggressive person for once_._ So tired of all this honesty shit._

"Do what?" Naomi's eyes went icy again.

"Look Naomi, you think, I don't know, that I am a bitch for allowing my ex to come over, force herself on me and leave… and so the first thing you think to do is to get even with Cook. It's fine. It's how this sort of shit always works. But I can't do it. I don't play all of these stupid games. I'm not built for it. And that is all this ends up being anyway. A big game. So I'm leaving, okay. I can't handle it." Emily turns to leave, but once again feels a warm hand circle her wrist.

"You're just leaving? You cant…you cant just walk away!" Naomi seemed angry and completely confused. "You are always so…honest and brave and now you're just, what!...giving up?" Emily knew she was right. She always tried to be brave, but in the end, she just wanted to protect herself like everyone else.

"I can't do all this drama. You are making me feel jealous, for Christ's sake. I don't get jealous. And, what's worse, you are doing it on purpose. Why would you do that?" Emily hated that she was now sounding hurt and she suddenly felt like the weak one.

"Look…I'm sorry, okay!" Naomi nearly yelled it. "I lost my shit for a minute. I just, all this stuff that you are making me feel…I don't know what to do with it. I just pictured that girl…her lips on you. Her hands in your hair…I just went a little crazy. And it's so ridiculous because…I haven't even known you for that long…and I just wanted you to feel what I felt for a second. To get some control back." Naomi suddenly laughed. "But you don't put up with all of my shit like normal people do. Most guys I have dated, they would have gotten angry, and been all over me seconds after I sat back down. I can't quite get a grasp on you, you know. I'm so used to getting my way. These 'games'…they are all I know. But you just won't play them." Naomi smiles and Emily's heart expands. "The crazy thing is, you actually make me want to stop playing them, too. You are just so…so fucking pure. Like, like everything that you say, its just…so fucking real…like you don't…you just say what you feel. And to be honest, it scares me a bit. But its…its almost…a good scared…if that makes sense…and I just…" before Emily knew what was happening, Naomi stepped forward and gently pressed her mouth to Emily's, tangling her fingers in her hair. She was invading her mouth, sucking on her tongue, making Emily dizzy. Naomi pulled on her bottom lip and pulled back, letting go of it reluctantly, looking into her eyes.

"Will you go out with me? Tomorrow night?" Emily just stared at her for a second. "Please?"

Emily paused, still shocked at how rapidly things had changes, in a matter of minutes. It didn't feel like a game anymore.

She broke into a wide smile "Yeah, I think I can do that."

They got into the car, and drove back to Emily's apartment, forgetting about the rest of the Cook's game. Naomi walked Emily to her door, slowly leaning in once again. They begin to lose themselves in another kiss, Naomi pushing her body closer to Emily's, gripping the shorter girl's back with her arm, causing Emily to arch into her, wrapping her own arms around the taller girl's neck. Emily felt Naomi push her towards the door frame, moving her hands to her hips, holding her against the wall, slowly moving her lips to Emily's jaw. As she ran her tongue over the space behind her jaw, below her ear, Emily felt her body rock forward, feeling the familiar throb rise between her legs, once again. She felt Naomi's thigh rise up between her own, rubbing against her jeans, over her center, causing Emily to let out a ragged breath. Naomi didn't seem to realize what she had done, clearly surprised at her automatic action, pulling back slightly, resting her forhead against Emily's. "Sorry." Naomi smirked slightly, but it fell into a soft look, as she ran her hand down Emily's jaw, watching the progress of her fingers as it slid down to her collar bone, tracing it slowly.

"It's okay." Emily wasn't surprised that her voice was barely audible. "Slow, okay?"

Naomi stepped back slowly, nodding, seeming to try and clear her mind. "Right. Slow. I can do that." She broke into a grin. "So…tomorrow? Eight-ish?"

"Right. Yeah. Our date." Emily tried not to smile like too much of an idiot. "Eight sounds good."

Naomi put her arms behind her back and stepped forward, leaning in and giving Emily a chaste but lingering kiss. Emily kept her arms to her side, spreading her fingers all the way out, feeling like she could transfer some of this feeling out through the tips of them, so as not to explode. She tilted her head to the side as the blonde swayed her hips, walking away down the hallway.

_I am in so much trouble._


	10. Chapter 10

**Naomi**

"Alright, you have one hour. You know the drill. Troy! No repeats…" Naomi stared down the shaggy headed little prick, as he nodded and smirked, waiting until he looked down at his test to allow herself a grin. She remembered when he came into her class at the beginning of the year. It wasn't as if he was out shooting up heroin in the toilets or anything. He was just a kid full of anger and attitude…a typical adolescent, really. One of the brightest kids she'd had, by far, but he just didn't give a fuck. She had caught him blatantly cheating on the first test, reading directly off the palm of his hand. Now, here he was, closing in on the end of the year, acing all of his tests, and actually smiling while attending class. He could still be a little punk, but at least he had some drive; some sort of motivation.

She shook her head and rolled her eyes thinking about what a cliché she had become. She blamed her mother. Always going on and on about making a difference, standing up for what is right, and everything else she enjoyed going on and on about for hours, even if no one was listening. All of it actually stuck. However, all that 'hate for injustice', as she called it…well, she used to think she would be a political activist or head up a non-profit or something like that. _If a younger me could meet me now, man would she be pissed._ She chuckled lightly to herself, thinking how nothing ever turned out like she expected, and somehow she still loved her life.

She picked up her pen, ready to try grading papers instead of day dreaming during the test, only to be distracted as she made the first mark. The red ink bled through the paper, spreading out infinitesimally, before drying. _Damn._ She had been attempting to stay somewhat focused all day long; trying desperately to not think about the night ahead. It gave her the most intense nerves she had ever had, just thinking about it. She had been a wreck the night before, when she got home, as she started to plan her date. _A fucking date. With Emily fucking Fitch. _

Not to mention that she was terrified of…well, of how much she forgot how terrified she was. There in the redhead's hallway, she completely lost herself in Emily's lips, her skin, her hair, her scent. If she was honest with herself, she was ready to rip her clothes off right then and there. Only Emily's insistence that they take things slow had stopped her, and only then did she stop and think. And when she stopped to think, she became petrified of what she had almost jumped into headfirst.

She had no clue what she was doing. What did someone even do…with a girl?...Though judging from her reaction to Emily, Naomi was pretty sure she could figure it out.

She just became more and more enthralled every time she saw her. The night at the club…Emily actually stunned her. Naomi was sure that her brain went completely blank for a solid minute. She had already thought Emily was breathtakingly gorgeous, and adorable. Intelligent, funny, and intense. But she decided she had never actually known the meaning of the word sexy until Emily began to dance. The way her body seemed to become part of the beat, the way her skin slightly glistened in the lights. And then there were her eyes. Naomi knew immediately that Emily was dancing for her and her alone. She barely even registered Cook's hands on her at that point, and when Emily began dancing with her, she thought she might combust.

Emily didn't respond to Naomi's attempt at controlling the situation, either time. She saw the jealousy there, in those brown eyes, but she stayed calm. She took complete control of the situation and burst her way into Naomi's mind. Into her heart. Emily didn't want to be teased and messed around._ Not emotionally anyway. I'm sure I could find other ways to tease her…Shit. Stop._ For the twentieth time, she brought her mind back from the dirty thoughts Emily seemed to inspire. Thoughts of making Emily squirm, making her scream. She didn't want allow her mind to drift there while she was at work. She was weary of it happening at all. And she still had to concentrate.

She only had six more hours before her date.

* * *

Naomi brought her knuckles to the door, hitting it once, before wincing and remembering that her fist was still slightly bruised. Instead she brought her left hand up and knocked. Every second that she had to wait seemed to last forever.

Suddenly, the door swung open, revealing a slightly flushed Emily, sporting a wide smile and quickly trying to pull the strap of her shirt back onto her shoulder, as it had fallen to reveal the creamy white skin beneath it.

"Hi." Naomi couldn't stop looking her over. It never ceased to amaze her that, though Emily never really seemed to try to look fantastic, she always seemed to take Naomi's breath away. Naomi had never seen anyone make slightly tight t-shirts and jeans look so hot. Tonight, however, Emily was wearing a looser tank top over a tight spaghetti strap undershirt. Naomi loved Emily's arms, and couldn't help herself, as her eyes raked over the now exposed and subtly defined muscles displayed, until they reached her hand and Naomi let out a chuckle.

"You really need to start setting aside more appropriate times to paint." Emily had a few spots of green and yellow on her hand. She rushed her paint splattered hands behind her back, maintaining a guilty but playful smirk.

"You know, this actually isn't that terrible of a time. You are twenty minutes early." She sent Naomi a knowing smirk as Naomi quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"Shit." She mumbled it to herself, but heard the redhead let out a snort of laughter. "I'm really sorry. I just…I guess I rushed over. I looked at the clock before I left, but I thought it would take longer…traffic and all…and…shit." She couldn't stop babbling until she felt Emily's soft hand on her forearm.

"Don't worry about it," she giggle out, as she ran her fingers soothingly over Naomi's arm, causing Naomi to shut up immediately and let out a breathy sigh mixed with a nervous laugh. "Come in. You can help me clean up. I was finished anyway."

As she stepped in, she recognized Joshua Radin coming from the speakers softly, and saw a small canvas sitting in the middle of the kitchen. It looked like the silhouette of a tree in front of an extremely brightly colored sunset. It didn't look as if Emily was going for a realistic looking picture, but rather trying to capture an idea of some kind. She loved the colors. They were so bright, it brought a small smile to Naomi's face before she realized it was there. She could picture Emily sitting there, focusing intently on the canvas, trying to put everything down, attempting to pour something inexplicable onto the blank space in front of her. She hadn't realized she had been staring at the painting for so long until she heard Emily clear her throat.

"Well, you have been a great help in this cleaning up process, but I believe I am ready for my date, Madame." Emily's hands were now paint-free and she had put shoes on.

"That didn't take long." Naomi hoped it hadn't taken long, otherwise she really had just spaced out completely.

"I decided to just wash my hands and paint brushes for now. I can do the rest later. I want to start our date now." Naomi looked at the girl in front of her, unable to control a quiet laugh at the sight of her face. It was like she was a child being taken to Disney World. Suddenly, she became extremely anxious about the fact that the excitement was in anticipation of the date that _she_ had planned. She swallowed heavily and nodded, heading towards the door. She stopped abruptly, remembering what she had almost forgot.

"Oh, um, here." She pulled out a tiny stuffed elephant, no longer than her finger, from her bag, looking down, embarrassed, as she handed it to the redhead. On the first night they had hung out, Emily had mentioned a love of elephants, going into a ten-minute speech about how amazing they were, how gentle but still terrifying they could be, how adorable she thought the baby elephants were. Naomi had thought, at the time, that she couldn't believe she actually found herself interested in a speech about elephants. So when she saw the tiny toy at the store, she had bought it without thinking. When the date had come about, she decided this was the perfect time to give it to her. The second she had pulled it out, seeing Emily's surprised face, she started scolding herself. _What the hell? Why did you think this was a good idea? Flowers, normal. Candy, Normal. A fucking stuffed elephant? NOT normal._

A loud laugh burst forth from Emily's mouth, startling Naomi. "I love it!" She threw her arms around the still shocked blonde, before she stepped back, looking a little surprised at her own enthusiasm, but still grinning widely. She leaned over and planted a small but lingering kiss on the blonde's cheek, whispering a small "Thank you" as she leaned back. She set the elephant next to her laptop, which was sitting on the counter, adjusting his position a few times, before stepping back, seeming to give the elephant a nod, and turning to Naomi.

"This is already one of the best dates I've been on." She giggled to herself for a few minutes as she headed out the door. Naomi, still in a state of surprise, chuckled, shook her head, and followed the redhead out.

* * *

As they stepped out of the car and began walking through the parking lot towards the restaurant, Naomi reached out and slipped her fingers into Emily's hand, before thinking about what she was doing. "Um…sorry. Is…is this okay?" She gestured down to their linked hands. She saw Emily look down as if she hadn't realized anything out of the ordinary had happened. Her face broke into a giant smile.

"This is perfect." Naomi could swear her heart nearly exploded out of her chest. This girl had inspired everything from intense lust to extreme tenderness in her and now she was getting these aching feelings in her chest every time the girl smiled or said something sweet.

She couldn't bring herself to care.

* * *

They had been sat at a somewhat secluded area of the restaurant (upon Naomi's request) had ordered food and drinks, and had fallen into an easy conversation. Naomi could not help but notice how easy it was with Emily. Everything seemed to flow, but there seemed to be this ever-present buzzing in the air. It was like this force; this excitement that seemed to be created every time they were near each other. Naomi could barely contain herself from doing things that seemed so natural, but were not normal for a first date. She wanted to brush the soft red hair out of Emily's face when it was covering her eyes. She wanted to gently run her fingers over Emily's knuckles as her hand lie on the table. She wanted to feel the tiny cut on Emily's lip and ask her if it was okay. All of it was driving her insane.

"So, what is something that you hate?"

Naomi shook her head at the randomness of the question. "Is this the question game again?" She held back a laugh, unable to believe that the redhead loved this game so much.

"Yup. So…?"

"Well…I guess…hmm." Naomi thought back to her thoughts earlier in the day. "I would have to say, I hate injustice. That is what I would have said when I was younger, but I think it still holds true." Emily seemed to think about it for a second.

"That is a very wide range of things, isn't it? It's a lot to hate, I mean."

"Yeah, I suppose it is. I just wish the world was fair sometimes, you know? There is so much wrong with it. So many hungry people, so many shitty situations. Not just things that require the goodwill of a few people to fix either. It's not as if everyone being more caring and generous will make it all better. There are so many complicated political and socio-economical issues that only an immense amount of time, money, effort and planning could ever fix…and even then…" Naomi trailed off, feeling herself getting worked up. "I used to want to try and fix it all by myself, but I decided to focus on one thing that I was good at instead." Naomi chuckled, thinking about a younger version of herself, desperate to take on the world; to take down one evil political and corporate entity at a time. She was so angry back then.

"What about you Ems? What do you hate?"

"I don't really hate anything."

"That is an unfair answer. You can't just…not hate anything."

"Well, hate is such a strong word." She giggled at herself, before she became thoughtful again. "I just…I don't get angry about things as much as I get…upset. Does that make sense? It doesn't feel like hate…it feels like…like being in despair at the thought of certain things." Naomi was once again struck with how much Emily seemed to feel, all the time. She was so…connected with her emotions. Naomi almost wished she could be like that. But at times, when she saw Emily so deep in whatever she was in, she thought it would be exhausting in a way, dealing with all of that, all the time.

"Well, what is something that, well, that sort of hate applies to?" She wasn't sure how to phrase it now, Emily confusing every part of her brain.

"I guess, if we are using that definition…I hate how fleeting everything is." Her brow furrowed slightly. There was a soft sadness in her eyes. Naomi wanted to reach over and smooth the anxiety showing in Emily's face; wanted to smooth the crinkled skin above her eyes.

"Nothing lasts. It's just the way time works. The only thing that goes on forever is an idea, as long as there are people to keep it. But you can't touch that. You can think about love, but the love that you feel, it can't last forever. The beauty of a perfect moment…well, it only lasts for a moment. I mean, that is part of what makes those moments great. That you get to be there for them, even though they disappear so soon after. But…it's still sad. Because it's just how everything works. Nothing can last, even lasting things. You can't stop time." Naomi watched Emily's mouth as she talked, seeing a look that was almost frustrated cloud her face. Like she was trying to wrap her mind around what she was saying. She was looking at nothing in particular, still thinking. Naomi traced her eyes over the soft curve of her jaw before staring at her bottom lip, sticking out slightly as she sat in concentrated silence. She was so engrossed in nuances of her face that, when Emily abruptly smiled, her breath hitched at how beautiful she found it. "But really, that is just how life works, you know. So, as sad as it is, it makes me really…" she stopped looking as if she were trying desperately to find words, a fire lighting up her eyes "…really, fucking…fucking burst with how awesome it is to even be here, you know? Just, life…it can be a real bitch sometimes. And when I get lonely and feel sad, I forget all this. But it is sort of just amazing to be here, and breathing and…living."

Emily continued to talk, letting her thoughts flow out of her, causing Naomi to be increasingly hypnotized by her lips, the way the side of her mouth curled up when she was laughing at herself, the way she bit her lip when she was searching for words. She could barely look away from her eyes. They were this deep brown that was now burning, as Emily talked about philosophical theories that Naomi had never heard of, which turned into talking about books and music, and then everything else. Naomi was talking too, but she geared all of her answers towards trying to get Emily to talk more, loving seeing her lit up talking about little things like character development in some television show or laughing over some silly joke her five-year old cousin told her on the phone. Before Naomi realized, it had been three hours, they had paid, and they were just sitting there chatting, almost no one around them except their waiter, lurking behind the wall near the kitchen, clearly wanting them to leave so he could go home.

As they finally left, feeling buoyed up by the apparent success of dinner, Naomi became excited for their next stop.

* * *

Naomi's hopes were dashed to the ground as they pulled up to an empty building with an empty parking lot and a 'Closed' sign hanging on the door. She had checked the website multiple times to see if it would be open, but according to the sight in front of her, it was wrong.

"Karaoke! I love karaoke!" Emily's excited voice made Naomi even more upset. "Wait…it looks closed…" Naomi saw Emily look towards her and she felt immensely disappointed as the brown eyes met her own.

"I can't believe its fucking closed! I knew it was a family owned place. I bet they all went out of town or something. Shit! I'm sorry Ems. I'm sure we can find another karaoke bar. There has to be one around here somewhere." She looked down the street, actually hoping for a second to see one sitting next door.

Emily gave Naomi a gentle smile as she reached over and placed her small hand on top of Naomi's. "Naoms, it's already dark. I don't really want to drive around aimlessly right now. We can figure something else out. It's fine." Suddenly her eyes looked over Naomi's shoulder and her face lit up. "Naoms, do you have a soccer ball in her somewhere?"

"Um, yeah…there is one in the trunk. Why?"

"Grab it and let's go." She bounded out of the car and went running off. Naomi turned her head and saw her small form speeding towards a lit up field just behind the bar. She smiled as she grabbed the ball and tried to catch up with Emily.

It looked as if it were a new pitch that probably had a timer on for the lights, but no one using it tonight. There was a wire fence running around the field fairly close to the edge on the opposite side, separating it from a small forest. Naomi breathed deeply as she followed Emily's lead, kicking off her shoes, and stepping onto the cool green grass. She wiggled her toes, loving the feeling. The soccer player in her was rejoicing at how perfect the grass was, wishing there was an actual game to play right now, just so she could properly put use to the field. Emily ran up to her, rolling the ball away from her and sprinting down the field with it, her bright red hair blowing behind her. Naomi jogged after her, trying to steal the ball back. They played around for a while, sometimes trying to keep it away from each other, other times trying to keep it in the air between them. They barely spoke two words as they played, mostly just laughing like small children.

As they simply passed it back and forth for a break, Naomi spoke. "Sorry about the place being closed. I really wanted to see you sing karaoke."

Emily grinned. "It's okay. This is fun too. Maybe we can go sing at another place on our next date." She smirked shyly towards Naomi, who blushed furiously, but composed herself.

"And what, Miss Fitch, makes you think there is going to be another date?" Emily looked playfully defiant.

"Well, I have clearly beaten you in all aspects of these little soccer games we have been playing. I think that means I am entitled."

"Hmm, how do you know I wasn't letting you win?" Naomi laughed lightly as she passed the ball back to Emily, who let out a scoff.

"Okay, Campbell. If you can get the ball away from me, you can decide whether or not there will be a second date." Naomi smiled, knowing that there was nothing that could stop her from going on a second date with Emily Fitch, unless, of course, it was Emily Fitch.

"Deal." She sprinted at her, chasing her towards the fence, as Emily squealed trying to get away while still keeping the ball. A few times, Naomi got close, but Emily did some confusing foot work, and left Naomi laughing and chasing after her again. As they got closer and closer to the fence, Naomi began holding on to Emily's hips, trying to move her off the ball, but became distracted as Emily began to laugh and she could feel the redhead's body shaking from laughter under her hands. Naomi tried to move her legs around to the front of Emily, but the small girl kept repositioning her body between Naomi and the ball, laughing the whole time, squealing lightly as Naomi squeezed her sides gently, tickling her. They ran into the fence, Emily placing her hands on the top bar, still shielding the ball from Naomi.

Their movements slowed a bit as Naomi gripped Emily's hips a little more firmly and moved her body close to Emily's back, not quite touching but close enough that the buzzing in the air she felt earlier now seemed to be vibrating through Naomi's entire body, causing her skin to tingle and her heart to thud deeply in her chest. With her hands she gently nudged Emily's hips, trying to coax her into turning around. Emily obliged and slowly spun, letting her arms fall to her sides, linking her fingers into the wire of the fence. Naomi, hands still on Emily's hips, lifted her foot up and dragged the ball back, causing it to roll a few feet behind them. She smirked down into Emily's face, raising her eyebrows. "It looks like I am victorious."

"I suppose you are." She let out a melodramatic sigh, causing Naomi to grin. "So the occurrence of another date is in your hands."

"Well, I am not quite done with this one yet. I would like to see how it turns out before I decide anything for sure."

"Ah…so I could still influence your decision then?" Naomi watched as Emily flipped a switch and was suddenly sexy Emily. She was amazed at how many sides this girl had. She wanted to get to know them all. Those brown eyes were looking at Naomi through thick eyelashes. Emily had a smirk on her face, as she bit her lip lightly.

Naomi gently nodded her head, "I suppose you do have some say-so in the final decision, yes." Their faces were much closer than before, both of them having moved them nearer to each other as they spoke.

"Hmm…well, what sort of thing would help my cause? I have a few dollars, if it's a monetary incentive you were looking for. Or…let's see…" Emily put on a faux-thinking face as she raised her right hand and ran one finger from just below Naomi's ear down to her collar bone slowly, causing Naomi's skin to burn under her touch and a shiver to travel down her spine. "Well, I'm just not sure what else I could do…"Her eyes were wide as she pouted, trying to keep a smirk off her face, though her lips twitched a few times, giving her away.

Naomi's breathing became heavy, the air now thick between the two of them. Naomi could smell Emily all around her and her own fingers were on fire, separated from Emily's skin only by the material of her shirts. She moved her thumbs underneath them and ran the tips of them over Emily's skin, hearing Emily's breath become ragged and feeling a fire start in her own stomach. Emily's pout, as well as her smirk, were gone, replaced by a look she had never seen before. It wasn't lust, not completely anyway. And it wasn't a flirty look, or even a laughing one. It wasn't smiling, but it wasn't sad either. It was completely somber, but bright. Her eyes were wide open, looking directly into Naomi's, as if they could see right through her. Her lips were parted very slightly and she looked like she was watching something. Like she was completely immersed with what was in front of her. All she could do was look back, her mind having gone a bit fuzzy, and as if she had lost control of herself, she leaned in and pressed her lips to Emily's.

This one was different. There was an intensity about this kiss that wasn't there before. Naomi's heart began screaming at her, but she tried not to listen to it. She thought about the fact that she hadn't known this girl for that long. About the fact that certain things were silly and impossible. She even let the fear take her over for a second about this being a girl that she was kissing. But that traitor in her chest kept saying the same thing over and over again. _Love. Love. Love._

She felt herself become more intense immediately. It was as if she was experiencing every single sensation, but she wasn't actually in control of what her body was doing. She slipped her tongue into Emily's mouth, losing her mind a little as the redhead released a soft moan. She felt her lips vibrate from it, as those small soft hands tangled in her hair, pulling her closer. Her own hands reacted by pulling those small, perfect hips towards her own, as their bodies pressed against each other fully. Emily's arms were now all the way around her neck as they devoured each other, reveling in the sensation of tongues, teeth and breath melting into each other, being fused together by the heat between them.

She felt Emily raise her thigh, trying to get closer to her, fitting it directly between Naomi's own, but neither of them pulled back this time. Naomi simply pressed herself further into Emily, running her hands under Emily's shirt, along her back, unable to get enough of the warmth of her beautiful skin, desperate to taste it. She felt herself becoming increasingly wet as Emily continued to move her thigh against her. She was unable to stop herself from simultaneously reaching her hands down to cup her ass, and leaning her mouth down to suck her pulse point, feeling her underwear flood at the slightly salty taste of Emily's skin. She pulled her left hand out from under Emily's shirt, gripping the back of Emily's neck, pulling her closer, before running her hand slowly down, over the soft skin of her neck, surprising herself as she rubbed against Emily's breast, causing them both to pull back and release short gasps.

They pressed their foreheads together, breathing deeply, staring at each other. Naomi swore she could feel the air pulsing along with her body.

Emily released a low chuckle as she spoke, "You are very dangerous." Her voice was deep and gravely. Naomi was unable to stop tightening her grip on Emily's magnificent breast, as the husky voice seemed to be spurring the uncontrollable part of her brain forward. Emily let out a shaky breath, but still didn't move as Naomi expected her to.

As she spoke again, Naomi's heart began pounding even louder than before. "Do you want to come back to my place?"

_God, yes._


	11. Chapter 11

_**OK, I'm pretty nervous about this one. Way outside my comfort zone...hope you like it.**_

_**I do not own skins.**_

**Naomi**

Naomi could barely focus on driving the car. Emily Fitch holding her hand felt more dangerous than anything else anyone could do while driving. Her skin still felt like it was on fire, but the slight distance from the girl next to her was allowing her thoughts to gather again. She still had an Emily Fitch haze in her brain, but her thoughts were just below the surface, and she wasn't quite sure how much trouble they would cause when they got out. She could picture how it would have played out when she was younger. She would have fallen apart, fucked everything up, and run away scared. But she wasn't that person anymore…only, she wasn't really sure what would happen now. This was a completely new situation for her to be in. So many things could go wrong.

First of all, Emily was a girl. It was definitely new. She had never even considered it before, but she was never really too focused on the gender of who she was dating…mostly because she was never too focused on who she was dating at all. They were all guys, but they were also usually distractions. So the fact that this beautiful, hilarious and perfect creature next to her was a girl didn't really bother her. Emily was definitely not a distraction. If anything, when she was with Emily, everything else felt like a distraction.

What was really an issue was how quickly things were progressing. Less than fifteen minutes ago, she had allowed herself to get lost in a kiss in which she felt more than she had ever felt before, with a girl she met less than two weeks ago. She was thinking of all of the silly song lyrics she had always thought were ridiculous; all of the stories she had read that she thought were melodramatic; all of the friends she had that would become complete idiots when they met someone new. And she absolutely hated herself for suddenly feeling like she understood all of it.

The biggest issue, though, was how weak she felt at this moment. She knew she couldn't deny it; despite the limited time she had known her and all the other excuses she tried to find, she was falling in love with this girl. And it wasn't _just_ an indescribable feeling; it wasn't _just_ a chemical reaction (though she did feel like that was part of it). She felt like she could write a list of a hundred different things, easily, about why she felt the way she did. It wasn't as if she couldn't rationally account for this attraction. And Emily was pulling her in. Naomi had only tried once or twice to do what she was known for; become the ice queen, be a bitch, make her think that she didn't care. And the times that she had done it, Emily stopped it immediately. She made Naomi want to change; to be romantic and silly. She was holding her heart in her small, perfect, soft hands and she could destroy it at any time. Naomi was terrified.

But at this second, Naomi still couldn't really do anything differently than exactly what she was doing; holding Emily's warm hand, feeling the air in the car buzzing with energy, driving to Emily's apartment to continue what they had started at the field. Emily was gently running her thumb over Naomi's knuckles. She was already so turned on from before, she found her underwear becoming more and more flooded with every touch.

As they pulled up to the apartment building, got out, and walked up the stairs, Naomi watched Emily's face become more and more nervous with each step. As they reached the door, the redhead seemed so small, as she fumbled with her keys, slowly opening the door, shyly looking over her shoulder at Naomi.

As Naomi fallowed her in, she watched Emily walk towards the kitchen. "Do you want something to drink? Maybe…maybe some wine…or something?" She was so adorable, standing in the kitchen, playing with the hem of her shirt, looking so flustered.

"Sure. Wine would be great. And…you know…we can just sit and talk if you want." She could tell Emily was nervous and she didn't want her to feel pressured. She was actually feeling a little nervous, too.

Emily seemed to relax slightly as they sat on the couch, a wine glass in each of their hands, listening to music Emily had put on. It was still tense and Naomi wasn't sure what to do now. Emily spoke suddenly. "I'm sorry that I'm so all over the place."

"Huh?" Naomi looked over at her, confused, only to see that she looked guilty for some reason.

"Last night, I tell you we should take it slow, then I tell you to come back to my apartment, and now I'm getting all nervous…and, just…I don't know what to do with myself. I'm sorry that I'm being so crazy."

Naomi giggled, reaching over and gently rubbing her knee. "Ems, it's really okay. I'm nervous too. And, I don't want to push us too fast." Suddenly a thought occurred to her. "I know!" Emily jumped slightly. "Karaoke!"

"What?" Emily looked a little surprised and thoroughly confused.

"We can sing karaoke! I mean, it won't really be the same as singing at a karaoke bar, but you can still belt it out." She was so happy at her idea, she couldn't stop smiling. It only got worse when she saw Emily's huge grin. She loved being the cause of it.

"Okay!" The redhead shot up off the couch. "Should I go first?"

"Sure…but I get to pick the song." She racked her brain. She wanted Emily to loosen up, sing something slightly silly and fun.

"Got it! El. Scorcho."

Emily burst out laughing. "It's perfect!" She ran into her room, reemerging with a hair brush. She found the song on her iPod and pressed play, immediately beginning to move around as if she were on a stage, holding the brush/microphone to her mouth. Then she fell into the song.

_God Damn you half-Japanese girls_

_Do it to me every time_

_Oh the redhead said you shred the cello_

_And I'm Jell-O, baby  
__But you won't talk, won't look, won't think of me  
__I'm the epitome  
__Of Public Enemy  
__Why you wanna go and do me like that?  
__Come down on the street and dance with me_

Emily then began to yell along, jumping up and down, pointing to Naomi every time she sang the word 'you'. Naomi fell deeper and deeper as she watched the redhead get lost in it all with a smile on her beautiful face the whole time.

_I'm a lot like you, so please  
__Hello  
__I'm here  
__I'm waiting, oh  
__I think I'd be good for you  
__And you'd be good for meeeee_

As Emily danced around the room, Naomi laughed and stared, completely wrapped up in every movement, every facial expression she made. She watched as Emily sang this happy, slightly silly, fun song directly to her and she was a goner. She knew it. She knew that Emily Fitch had changed everything by just being everything she was, singing this song, and Naomi would never be the same. She wasn't even sure when it happened. It might have been before this, but it wasn't until now that she realized it. And she was amazed.

Just then Emily walked on beat up to Naomi, dropped to her knees and fist pumped along to the song, being absolutely ridiculous and absolutely adorable.

_How stupid is it  
__For all I know you want me too  
__And maybe you just don't know what to do  
__Or maybe you're scared to say  
_'_I'm falling for you'_

She started making do-do-do-do sounds, causing Naomi to giggle with her, as she sang along with the air-guitar she was playing, approaching the final verse.

_I wish I could get my head out of the sand  
_'_Cause I think we'd make a good team  
__And you would keep my fingernails clean  
__But that's just a stupid dream that I won't realize  
_'_Cause I can't even look in your eyes  
__Without shakin'  
__And I ain't fakin'  
__I'll bring home the turkey and you'll bring home the bacon!_

She finished it out, falling into a bow as Naomi applauded and laughed. Then she paused for a second, looking at Emily's now red face. "You are quite brilliant to watch, you know." She had meant to say it as a joke, but it didn't come out like she intended. Her laughter had died down and it came out sounding how she actually felt. And, though normally she knew she would feel embarrassed and try to make it into a joke, or laugh it off, she just stared up at the girl in front of her, who was smiling back at her. Naomi expected her to blush, which she did, and change the subject, which she didn't.

"You are easy to sing to."

Naomi stood slowly, sitting her wine on the table, and walked towards Emily. The redhead was standing in the middle of the room, shoulders back, head high, looking taller than she was, unashamed of the song she just threw herself into with complete abandon. She had a small smile on her face and Naomi thought she looked a little like a painting. Her hair was slightly messy from dancing around, her face was still pink, and her eyes were brightly shining. She just looked so free, Naomi could barely stand it. So she did the only thing she could fathom doing at the moment; she pulled her hands up to cup her face, rubbing her thumbs over her cheeks for a second, trying to take in everything about her, and then she kissed her.

She wanted to put everything into that kiss. She wasn't always great with words, when those words involved her emotions, but she wanted to tell Emily that she was beautiful, that she was sexy, that she was brave and the most real person she'd ever met. She wanted her to know that she didn't understand what was going on or why she couldn't bring herself to stay away from her. She wasn't sure if she got it all across, but Emily responded regardless. She felt hands grip her sides as she felt Emily's tongue swipe across her bottom lip. As she felt the redhead slip her tongue in her mouth, she allowed her to push her back towards the couch. The back of her knees hit the edge, and Naomi fell into a sitting position. Emily stood over her for a second, bringing one knee to each side of Naomi, slowly sitting down, straddling her, looking into her face as she ran her hand along her jaw line, causing Naomi to shiver. Naomi immediately reached up and pulled Emily's lips back to her own, running her hands down her back until they reached the curve of her ass, pulling her in as far as she would go as she continued to massage Emily's tongue with her own, getting lost in the sloppy but tender kisses.

Emily suddenly moved her mouth to Naomi's ear, sucking lightly on her ear lobe, before whispering softly. "You are so beautiful." The breath on Naomi's neck, along with the sincerity of Emily's tone, sent Naomi into a lustful haze. She suddenly slipped her hands under Emily's backside and lifted her up off the couch, and walked towards her bedroom. She felt the need to taste her neck before even reaching the door and, instead, pushed her up against the wall next to it, the redhead's strong legs still wrapped around her waist. As she ran her tongue up Emily's neck, Emily let out a ragged breath and tilted her head back, giving Naomi more space to work with. She began determinedly tasting every inch of exposed skin between Emily's chest and jaw line. Suddenly she realized, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, that there simply was not enough skin exposed.

She began moving towards the bedroom again, not stopping until she reached the bed, setting the small form in her arms down, gulping slightly as the redhead sat there and looked up at her with her now dark eyes. Everything slowed slightly from the frenzy of a few seconds before. The air became thick and Naomi felt as if she could feel it moving with Emily's breathing. Naomi sat gently down next to Emily, reaching over to take Emily's enticing bottom lip into her mouth, nibbling it slightly, before pulling back. She looked into brown eyes as she reached down to the hem of Emily's shirt and gently pulled it up, taking both shirts at once, becoming frustrated that the girl felt compelled to wear so many clothes. As she threw them to the side, she looked up at Emily's increasingly vulnerable face. She gave her a smile, raised her own hands above her head and cocked her head to the side slightly, inviting the redhead to follow her lead. She received a small smile in return as Emily reached down and pulled her shirt off. She was trying to take in everything about the recently exposed body in front of her. Emily had a freckle on her stomach below her left breast and a small scar on her ribs. She reached out to touch it before realizing that Emily was reaching out to her at the same time.

As she met those hungry brown eyes again, Naomi pounced on her, pushing her back towards the bed, kissing down her neck, as her hands felt her breasts through the rather annoying bra that was still covering them. The atmosphere gathered intensity once more, and Naomi could barely comprehend how she wanted to be gentle and frenzied all at the same time with Emily. She was bursting at the seams, coming undone from simply touching this girl.

She felt Emily's hardened nipples through her bra and could barely restrain herself from ripping it off, needing so badly to feel skin on skin. She reached around and tried to take off the offending item of clothing, as Emily did the same to her, until suddenly, as they both succeeded, they stopped and stared. Naomi had never seen a more perfect pair of tits in her life. She was speechless. But before Naomi could react, Emily flipped her over so that she was straddling her once again, and dove down to her own breast, taking the small nub into her mouth and sucking, causing Naomi to let out moan. The ache between her legs was becoming so intense, she was sure she had never done this correctly before. It had never felt like this. Like she was burning up from the inside.

She felt Emily's tongue switch to her left breast, as her warm hand reached up to replace her mouth on the right. She squeezed her nipple lightly as she rolled the other with her tongue, and Naomi's hips rocked forward as she felt herself become soaked, aching to feel Emily inside her.

Emily slowly undid the button and zipper on Naomi's jeans, pulling them down and throwing them off the bed, before turning over to get rid of her own. She slowly lowered herself on top of the blonde, who had begun touching Emily everywhere she could reach, feeling as if she would burst out of her skin if she couldn't feel her. Emily attacked Naomi's lips and tongue with her own, penetrating her mouth so deeply, Naomi could feel her desire coming off her in waves. It was so tangible, so real. Emily began to run her hand down Naomi's side until she was right above her panty line. She stopped to trace her finger back and forth, slipping her thigh between Naomi's legs to rub against her sopping wet center. Naomi knew that Emily could feel how wet she was, as she felt her last shred of clothing soaked completely through. It seemed to spur her on, her kisses becoming more and more frantic. Her mouth traveled down once more to Naomi's breasts before she removed her underwear so quickly, Naomi didn't even realized what was happening until they were gone. Emily was gradually becoming almost primal, and Naomi had never been so turned on in her life.

Emily held herself somewhat over Naomi with her left elbow, looking straight into her eyes, as she slid her right hand slowly down Naomi's stomach. Naomi felt her muscles twitch as she spread her legs wider, waiting for Emily to touch her where she needed her so badly, never looking away from the eyes staring intently into her own. As she felt Emily's fingers glide through her wet folds, she watched Emily lick her lips. She looked as if she was going to come from just touching Naomi and the combination of seeing Emily's reaction and feeling her nimble fingers teasing her, touching her, exploring her…it was almost too much. She felt those same fingers gently circle her clit, painfully slowly and steadily. She wanted more. She _needed_ more.

"Please, Ems. Please." She barely whispered it, but Emily didn't hesitate. She easily slid two fingers into her and Naomi thought she would explode. As Emily began to thrust in and out of her, she looked at brown eyes watching her, never leaving her face. She felt the familiar sensation rising in her stomach, building slowly as Emily gained speed, pushing and pulling her fingers in and out of Naomi's wet heat. Suddenly Emily lowered her head, as she felt her warm tongue sucking roughly at her nipple, sending a shudder through Naomi's body, before she traced a line down her stomach and she felt that very same tongue cover her clit.

"Holy fuck! Emily! Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" Those were the only words that ran through her mind as she felt Emily's tongue flick her repeatedly, while her fingers continued pounding into her. She sucked on the bundle of nerves suddenly, and before Naomi knew what was happening she was hurling over the edge, as wave upon wave of pleasure crashed against her, her entire body rocking. Emily continued to suck and flick at her clit, alternating for a few seconds, as Naomi thrashed about.

Emily's face was in front of her once more, but her hand had never stopped moving, her fingers still thrusting into her repeatedly. No sooner had she felt herself become slightly coherent again, than she felt it build back up, as Emily curled her fingers, rubbing her thumb against her clit, which was now so sensitive, it took only the most gently nudging to make her cry out. Naomi felt her entire body begin to shake. She met Emily's eyes again as she felt a third finger enter her. A guttural moan escaped her lips, along with a few more choice words, and she couldn't stop saying Emily's name over and over as she was hurtled into the stars once more, never leaving Emily's eyes this time. Those deep brown eyes seemed to be staring directly into mind, into her soul, and she looked in awe of what she saw. She lost all comprehension of anything, as the entire world seemed to revolve around those eyes.

Naomi had never ever felt such strong emotions after coming. She had never felt such strong emotions at all. She immediately gripped Emily's neck and brought her in for a kiss, plunging her tongue into her warm mouth, trying to taste every inch of it. She felt an aftershock of pleasure as Emily slowly pulled her fingers out, and they simply lay there for a few minutes, wrapped in each others' arms, kissing sloppily, running their hands over all the skin they could reach.

Naomi wanted so badly to make Emily feel what she just felt, but she had never come more than once in such a short amount of time and her mind was sending her into slumber against her will. She felt herself curl into strong arms that seemed to surround her, making her feel so safe and warm. She wasn't sure how such a small girl could seem so…everywhere. Everything in her mind was Emily. It felt like she filled the room; filled Naomi's heart; filled Naomi's body. Like she was nestling into a space she fit into perfectly inside Naomi's soul. She felt Emily whispering into her ear as she drifted off, still unable to keep from shivering at the feel of her warm breath on her ear.

"Perfect. You are so perfect."

She wasn't sure if it was Emily's voice or her own thoughts that she heard, as she floated into a peaceful sleep surrounded by red.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Thanks for all the reviews.**_

_**I don't own skins.**_

**Emily**

Her mind was filled with images and sensations; blonde and blue, the feel of skin, a warmth surrounding her fingers, a slightly tangy taste on her tongue. She could feel her consciousness slowly seeping back. Some of the dream-like images were slipping away, but a few of them still seemed to be there, making her mind hazier. She could still smell that gorgeous scent that filled her dream. The soft skin was still pressed against her own. She could feel fingers softly caressing her stomach. She was aware of a warm wetness on her neck, running up and down, covering her ear. _Please don't wake up. Pease don't wake up. Just take advantage of this brilliant dream._ Emily let out a groan as she began moving her hands around the imaginary body on top of her. Suddenly she felt her nipple being sucked gently and a very real ripple of pleasure jolted her body, causing her eyes to shoot open, seeing a blonde head of hair hovering over her chest in the moonlight.

Naomi seemed to sense Emily's awakening, turning her eyes towards her face. She focused on blue shining back at her, making her heart swell in her chest. Naomi trailed her lips up Emily's chest, running her tongue along her neck, pulling back to look into her eyes.

"Hi, there." Her voice was still sleepy and Emily smiled at the fact that she got to hear it like that.

"I must admit, this is probably one of the best ways to wake up in the history of the world." She still felt Naomi's hands roaming over her body as the blonde grinned widely.

"Well you've been asleep for an hour or so…I think. It was too long, either way." She began to suck on Emily's pulse point, causing Emily's breath to become ragged. She felt wetness gather between her legs as Naomi palmed her breasts.

"Mmm…you know, you were the one who fell asleep first…ugh…" Emily couldn't help release a groan as Naomi had raised her soft thigh rubbing against her core as she nibbled on the area just below her ear.

Naomi was still placing kisses along Emily's neck as she responded, so that Emily could feel the breath mixed with her soft wet tongue. "You did sort of tire me out. What is your excuse?"

Emily giggled lightly, before it turned into a gasp. Naomi had cupped her heat through her still present underwear. "And why are these still here?" Naomi gently pulled off the offending item, slowly trailing her finger tips back up from her ankle to the inside of her knees, leaving a trail of fire on the front of her thighs. Emily had been running her hands up and down Naomi's back, until she suddenly pulled on the back of her neck, needing to taste her lips immediately.

Emily began thinking of the night before as she enjoyed the feeling of Naomi's tongue on her own, the way Naomi writhed beneath her hands, the way she tasted, the look in her eyes as she came undone. It made her center flood, just thinking of getting to do all of that again. As Naomi brought her thigh up once more, Emily couldn't suppress a moan as she felt it rub directly against her suddenly swollen clit.

She looked up to meet Naomi's eyes, noticing that she was suddenly looking a little shy, biting her lip. She laid her body flush on top of Emily's, pressing their breasts together. Emily decided it was one of her new favorite sensations. "I've never done this before." It was barely more than a whisper. Naomi's confidence from seconds before seemed to dissipate. "And you are just…you are so fucking…fucking amazing. I want it to be perfect…" Though her eyes were blazing, she looked so scared; it broke Emily's heart a little. She had almost forgot that it shouldn't be so easy. That, even though it all felt so natural, this was still the first night they were together.

Emily grabbed Naomi's hand gently and guided it down between her own legs, letting her feel her wetness. Naomi gasped with surprise. "This is what you are doing to me, just touching me. Just feel it. Do what comes naturally. I don't have any doubt that I will be completely at your mercy in a matter of seconds. And if you're not ready, that's okay too." She couldn't keep her voice from becoming increasingly husky as she finished the sentence, just imagining Naomi taking her over, but preparing herself for Naomi to remove her hand and say she wasn't ready. She would understand.

The fear on Naomi's face was replaced, not by a smirk, or ravenous lust, but by what appeared to be amazement. Their breathing became more uneven, as Naomi seemed to try to explore every inch of Emily with her fingers, holding her gaze. She brushed Emily's clit causing the redhead to let out a light whimper. Naomi pressed their lips together, before pulling back, foreheads touching, staring into Emily's eyes. She continued to slowly circle her tiny nub and Emily thought she was going to spiral into the sky. Naomi was so gentle but so intense, and she felt that the world was slowly dissolving. Everything around her seemed to become blurry. All she was able to focus on was the girl on top of her, and the sensations she was arousing. She had never been more aware of every atom in her body before. Every place that Naomi's skin was touching her own seemed to be burning, and between her legs seemed to be where it began. Suddenly, Naomi slipped a finger into her, sending Emily's hands immediately to Naomi's hips. She gripped tightly, feeling as if she had never held something more real; feeling like, if she didn't hold on to her, she would plummet into darkness.

Naomi added another finger and picked up speed, entering her over and over again, causing Emily to grind against her hand. "Shiiiiit…" Emily's voice continued the word into a moan as Naomi brushed the base of her hand against her clit. She watched blue eyes take her in, as her soft pink tongue darted out to lick her lips. Suddenly she had to taste that tongue; had to feel Naomi everywhere. She brought Naomi's mouth to her own, thrusting her tongue into it, in rhythm with Naomi's hand. They both let out a moan into each other's mouth and everything became suddenly frenzied. Without thinking she reached her own hand between Naomi's legs, feeling her soaking wet heat, and pushed two fingers inside of her abruptly. She had slipped Naomi off of her, so that they were both lying on their sides, facing each other, rocking into one another vigorously. Naomi let out a strangled cry of pleasure, spurring them both on, as Emily gripped her back and pulled them towards each other, as close as possible.

They were in complete sync as Emily felt them become one giant wave of desire. They pounded into one another continuously and, as she felt herself begin to reach new heights, she could feel Naomi tightening around her own fingers, which seemed to intensify everything. They found each other's mouths once again, their tongues dueling in time with their bodies, until Emily had to come up for a breath to release a guttural moan. She heard Naomi's voice near her ear at the same time.

"Fuck, Emily! Shit, shit, shit, fuuuuuck!" As they both tumbled over the edge, they still slowly moved their hands, riding it out, until they lay there, still and silent. Emily felt like they were floating, as they each opened their eyes to find each other. She felt herself smile lightly, her brain just registering, for the second time tonight, Naomi's tendency to curse vocally every time she came. As Naomi slowly pulled her fingers out, Emily did the same, causing them both to spasm lightly. Emily brought her arm around Naomi's waist as Naomi brought her leg up to wrap it around Emily's. Emily fit her thigh between Naomi's own, placing it firmly against her now soaking core, causing Naomi to sigh loudly as she released a shudder. They lay there, Emily's head tucked underneath Naomi's chin, as their breathing evened out and they fell into slumber once more, Emily's body still buzzing lightly.

* * *

Emily's eyes slowly opened as she breathed in deeply, the scent of Naomi's skin seeming to fill her completely. She could feel the girl's steady breath, her head still pressed into the blonde's chest. Their limbs were tangled together, but it felt more like they were puzzle pieces. She wasn't uncomfortable, but felt completely safe here. She had tried; legitimately tried to take things slow with Naomi. She had planned on a goodnight kiss, maybe a little more, but that was it. She definitely did not expect this. This soul shifting thing she was currently wrapped up in; drowning in.

Reluctantly, she gently untangled herself from Naomi, her throat suddenly aching for water. As she stood, she turned to watch Naomi letting out a light sigh in her sleep. The sheet was only covering the lower half of her body; the moonlight shining off of her perfect breasts as she rolled over onto her back, opening her arms fully to the ceiling, her blonde hair becoming slightly blue in the light, looking almost like it was glowing, as it cascaded over her face. Emily's heart ached at how beautiful she found her at that moment.

She grabbed a shirt that was lying on the floor, throwing it over herself, as she padded toward the kitchen, filling a glass of water. She slowly walked around the floor aimlessly for a moment, trying to think as the water soothed her throat. She caught sight of the tiny elephant sitting on the counter. As she picked it up, she felt a huge grin take over her face. _This is exactly the reason you lost self control._ She shook her head lightly, annoyed at her inability to control her thoughts. She had expected Naomi to show up, maybe bringing a flower or something. Instead she brought this adorable reminder that Naomi was different from anyone she had ever met. It made it so difficult to take things slow.

She wasn't sure why she couldn't accept it. If a younger Emily had been in this situation, she would have let herself be taken over by this thing that was happening. She would have fallen into this feeling; this girl; this perfect night that, though probably rushed, was exactly what it should be.

But she wasn't like she used to be. She didn't trust the world like she used to. She didn't expect anything to work out like it should, even if it seemed like everything was perfect. She knew her emotions were becoming stronger every time she saw Naomi and she could feel her becoming a constant part of her thoughts.

_Okay, this isn't a big deal. This is actually a good thing. A wonderful thing. A beautiful, sexy, gorgeous thing. That is in my bed right now. I should go back to the bed actually…no, wait. Focus. We just need to slow things. Don't get carried away…But…love. It feels like love._

_Shit._

_Where the hell did that come from? Since when?_

_No, no, no, no…_

Emily shot straight up from the couch that she found herself sitting on. Her heart began beating rapidly, as she became lightheaded. She breathed deeply a few times, trying to calm herself. How could she love her? She felt like she was talking to a seventeen-year-old version of herself. She couldn't love her. She hadn't known her long enough. And she wasn't completely positive about what she should use as the exact definition of love, but she was certain it should involve some time. More time than this.

_But look what I have. We click, better than with anyone I have ever met. Instantly. She makes me laugh. She's smart and funny. She gets me. Our personalities just fit together, perfectly. She's passionate. She makes me feel safe and calm, but like I might burst out of my skin at the same moment. She's feels like pure energy to me, suddenly fueling everything, pulling me in, pushing me forward. It's like we are hurtling toward each other and when we connect…we set the world on fire._

"Stop." Emily scolded herself as she rolled her eyes at her inner monologue. She always had a tendency to become overzealous and dramatic when her thoughts mingled with her emotions. She tried to refocus on more realistic aspects of the situation. But still, all she could feel was Naomi. She was real to Emily, as well as this amazing fantasy.

She decided then. She wasn't going to fight it. But she wasn't going to become a teenager again just because her emotions were running high. But she knew she had to tell her. She always had to. She could never keep things like this inside for very long. They always made their way out at inappropriate times if she did. Usually when she was hammered or feeling insecure. She didn't want that. She would tell her, but then she would have to slow things, starting tomorrow. She didn't want this to go wrong because they rushed. Hopefully it wasn't too late for that.

She slowly made her way back to the door, hearing a shuffling in the direction of the bed. She heard a light whimpering coming from Naomi, as she watched her curl into a ball. It looked like she was having a slightly unpleasant dream, but soon all was quiet once more, though her face still held a frown. She shed the shirt she was wearing and eased herself back in bed. Naomi automatically opened her arms allowing Emily to slip comfortably into them, her frown disappearing. She hugged herself to the blonde, feeling her soft skin everywhere. She lightly kissed her forehead, then her eye lid, and continued down to her jaw and her chest. She heard Naomi stir and let out a soft sigh. As Emily ran her hands gently down Naomi's neck, she lightly grazed her breast. She continued to feel it in her hand, relishing the sensation of her nipple pebbling beneath her palm. She could never get enough of it. She gently squeezed, eliciting another sigh from the beautiful creature next to her.

She slowly latched her lips onto the creamy white skin of her neck, running her tongue over all of it, tasting it. She wanted to feel everything. She began kissing her shoulder, down her arm, finally reaching her hands. She kissed her knuckles, the tips of her fingers, the palm of her hand, before travelling to the other arm and repeating. She made her way back to Naomi's beautiful chest and circled each of her buds with her tongue, before fully tasting them, gently at first. Soon she began to suck at them more adamantly, as she let her hands roam further south, reaching behind her and gently squeezing her ass. Her body was positioned, stomach down, in between Naomi's long legs, laying her torso fully onto her, feeling the heat pressing into her stomach, as she let her tongue trail over Naomi's ribs, bringing her hands up to her breasts, not wanting to leave them alone just yet. Naomi's breath was becoming labored, but the only real signs of movement were the heaving of her chest and the repeated extension of her fingers. She kept spreading her fingers out fully before balling them into fists, gripping the sheets, and extending them once more, repeating the process. That was, until Emily reached her belly button, and she felt Naomi's hands in her hair, running her fingers through it. Emily gently tipped her head into the fingers caressing it before she continued her descent.

She moved to her hips, pressing her lips and tongue fully onto each of her hip bones, which, for some reason, caused Naomi to let out a deep sigh. She kissed down her thighs, almost tempted to stop by the inviting scent of Naomi's arousal. But she continued on, finding new freckles and scars as she went; discovering new and different reactions she could cause. She spent a few minutes on Naomi's knees, enjoying feeling Naomi's body shudder as she kissed the inside of them. She would have to remember that one. When she was done exploring the entire expanse of skin in front of her, she slowly made her way back up towards Naomi's face. Looking into her eyes, she was momentary breathless, finding complete adoration there. She smiled back, sure that the same look was in her own eyes, as she leaned down to kiss her. It was so slow and tender, she could barely pull herself out of it, but she remembered her goal, and she slowly moved back down Naomi's body, settling herself between her legs. She ran her finger tips up and down her soft thighs and then did the same with her tongue. Naomi's body had been steadily shivering the entire time she was touching her, and it had been growing in intensity. Finally, unable to take it anymore, she dipped her tongue in for a taste. Naomi immediately thrust her hips forward, bringing her delicious scent closer to Emily. She slowly ran her tongue through her soaking wet folds, lapping her up, unable to get enough, taking note of all the things that seemed to bring forth noises of pleasure from Naomi's lips.

She suddenly thrust her tongue into Naomi's opening, smiling as she heard the first 'fuck' she had heard since she began. She plunged into her over and over, becoming completely wrapped up in everything she was doing, before moving to her clit and flicking it repeatedly. Naomi's thighs began to shake and Emily became frenzied again, unable to stop herself. She wanted to put her mouth everywhere at once, and she felt like she was. She wanted to cover her completely; devour her whole. It was suddenly the most important thing in the world. She held one of her hips down as she slid two fingers into her, sucking on her clit as she thrust into her, curling her fingers. Naomi's hands were in her hair once again, pulling her face closer to her with every thrust, screaming and writhing underneath her, until suddenly she felt her shake violently, her fingers and tongue becoming soaked as she heard Naomi let out a loud moan, and then the most beautiful sound sighed through the air.

"I love you."

Naomi's body continued to shake for a few seconds, as Emily slid back up towards her face, finding the blue eyes she was searching for. She looked into them, hoping against hope that they held the truth of what she just heard.

"You are fucking…you are just…I can't even…" She shook her blonde head from side to side slowly, seeming to try to stabilize herself in reality once more. Suddenly, her eyes popped open and she looked up into Emily's eyes. Emily figured she probably just realized what she had said. _Please don't regret it. Please don't take it back. _They just stared at each other, Naomi's eyes going from slightly fearful, to searching. She suddenly had to speak. It was almost a whisper, but she knew she could hear her.

"I do too, you know? Love you. I don't know how, but…I've never felt anything so…so much. So..everywhere. I feel you in my legs; in my fingers; in my…in my everything." _God, stop talking. You sound like such an idiot._ Naomi continued to stare at her and Emily became worried. "I understand if you just said that in the heat of the moment…but I do…and I needed you to know. I…I'm sorry if I…" She was cut off by Naomi's mouth on her own.

And they fell into the sheets again, happily drowning in each other once more, temporarily putting off whatever tomorrow might bring.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Sorry for the delay. Not sure about this one. And not sure how many more chapters I can do. Still trying to figure out where I'm going with this. Might have to throw in some drama. This one is pretty long. Combined two chapters.**_

_**Thanks for all the reviews.**_

_**I don't own Skins.**_

Naomi let out a large breath she had been holding as she stared up at the building in front of her. It was across the street from the coffee shop where Emily worked. She had received a text message about half an hour ago and then looked at it for another half an hour, before responding. She smiled as she recalled the message;

**Come out! We're having  
****after work drinks! The turtle  
****Shell, across from the shop!**

One minute later, she received another.

**p.s. this is totally sporadic  
****and completely counts as  
taking it slow.**

Naomi laughed at the time, unable to stop smiling at the fact that Emily couldn't help laying everything on the table, even in text. She was so pure. So honest and…it was just…everything. The way she never tried to play games. She was so straight forward. Naomi wasn't deluded. She knew that Emily wasn't perfect. But she seemed such a perfect fit for Naomi. She was so open and full of wonder at so many things. She loved the world and she loved life. Naomi even found Emily's cynicism beautiful. Mostly because even her cynicism seemed hopeful. She used to hate romantic people. But the way Emily talked about romantic things seemed to make so much sense. It was rational romanticism. She wasn't like those girls she used to know that had this notion that love would immediately cure all and everyone would live happily ever after. She just really believed in notions like love, and honesty, and doing the right thing. And having healthy relationships, rather than losing yourself in another person completely. And working hard at things sometimes, rather than relying on passion to drive you through it.

She couldn't help but be fascinated by everything about this girl. Since yesterday morning, she had been both nervous and relieved at how things were going with Emily, as well as a little confused.

_She woke to a crash. Her body jumped, but she stayed wrapped in the sheets, which almost lulled her immediately into slumber once again. But she felt so intent on the scent surrounding her, she couldn't help the lazy smile that overtook her face as she inhaled it. Slowly, she remembered where she was; whose bed she was in; who she had spent last night with._

"_Fuck sake." She heard it from another room. She recognized the voice. That smile crept up on her again._

_Eventually, she dragged herself out of the bed, threw on a t-shirt that was lying nearby, and went to investigate the continuing crashing and whispered cursing. She walked in, and was met with a sight she wasn't expecting. When under the covers in the bed, she had imagined what Emily was doing while in the kitchen, banging things around; she had pictured Emily, her tousled hair down, flowing around her shoulders, with light bouncing off her bright red locks. There in her mind, imaginary-Emily was wearing a white tank top, which was fairly transparent, with tiny black shorts, showing off her gorgeous legs. _

_In reality, Emily was wearing bright orange sweat pants (reasonable, since it was freezing) and a baggy black shirt with a cartoon character on it. She had flour covering the face of whatever character was on her shirt, and a few smudges of chocolate on her cheeks. Her hair was in a messy bun on top of her head, her small wispy hairs falling around her neck._

_Naomi had no idea why, but she found it more attractive than anything she had ever seen (except Emily naked…nothing was better than Emily naked). Emily had a frustrated look on her face, but she was still singing along to the music lightly playing in the background, swaying her hips slightly. This was Emily as she was in her natural state; on her own, when she thought no one was looking. She still had that freedom about her. She still sang along to songs without thinking about it. And the baggy clothes clung to her body in certain places when she moved. She was still the most beautiful person Naomi had ever seen._

_She cleared her throat. Emily jumped slightly, but luckily she wasn't holding anything. It could have been messy._

_Emily had a slightly guilty look on her face. Naomi found it adorable. "Good morning."_

"_Um...I was just making chocolate-chip pancakes…I've done it so many times without dropping anything…but…Alas…." She looked around at the mess, shaking her head at what she had done. "Look, we need to talk."_

_Naomi felt her heart leap into her throat. What had she done? It was so soon, and she had somehow managed to screw it up already_. Shit. Shit. Shit_._

"_Shit." It came out before she could stop it._

"_It's not bad. I promise… just sit." Naomi sat, without knowing how. Her body became numb, expecting the worst. Emily had a nervous look on her face as she sat down a plate of pancakes in front of her. Emily sat across the table. _

"_Okay, I don't really want to draw this out…But…I think we should slow things down."_

_It was very abrupt, and didn't clear anything up for Naomi. She was still confused._

"_Naomi, I don't want to stop anything. It's nothing like that. I don't even know if I could. But I'm a mess…I mean I could be. And I don't want you to become a hobby. I mean…sorry, I am jumping around in my mind, and you clearly can't read my mind, heh. Maybe I should have said, my _life_ is a mess. I mean…I know myself, as far as my emotions and, you know, the things I believe…for the most part. But I don't know what I want to do with it. Not like you do. You are so passionate and you care about your job and those kids. And you…you are rapidly becoming a very important part of my life…my mess of a life. I'm trying to figure out what I am doing; to find purpose. I don't want you to become my purpose…does that make sense?"_

_Naomi's mind was reeling. Her initial nervousness had given way to her confusion…and then amusement. She couldn't say that this was upsetting her, not how she thought it would. Once Emily said that she didn't want to stop anything, she had calmed significantly. In fact, most of what she was saying was making sense (sort of) and fit directly into all of the things Naomi believed before she met Emily (she thought). Her head was, if she was honest, wanting to do exactly what Emily was saying, even though her heart wanted to dive straight into a sea of red._

"_It's okay. I get it. I agree."_

"_Really? You're okay with this?"_

"_Of course I am."_

And she was…at least she thought she was. She wasn't exactly sure what it meant. They had finished their breakfast, falling into the comfortable atmosphere that surrounded them once again, and then she kissed Emily, and left to go to work. She hadn't seen or talked to Emily in a day. She was okay with going slow, despite the fact that she was missing the redhead terribly after only twenty-four hours. But she was confused. They had already slept together. They had already said I love you. The going-too-fast ship had sailed. And she couldn't stop thinking about her. She kept replaying the night they spent together; letting the 'I love you' slip from her lips and then having it said back. It kept a smile on her face all day. Not to mention all the other things from the night; Emily's skin on her own; Emily's tongue; Emily's hair. She could never remember feeling this happy. But they were supposed to be going slow…she just didn't know how they could go back after all that had happened that night.

And now she was here, her nerves getting the better of her even though she had already been closer to this girl than anyone else. In a flash of courage, she quickly walked through the door, positive she would lose her nerve in the next second.

Her eyes were immediately drawn to a table in the corner. For a moment, she felt anger flare inside of her as she saw Emily, laughing uproariously, with an arm around her shoulder. Someone else's arm. A girl with light brown hair was laughing along with her, her hand gripping Emily's shoulder tighter as the laughter grew louder. _Was this how she was going to take it slower? Hit on other girls, so she could cool things off with me?_

She breathed deeply, recalling the rational part of her brain to the forefront of her mind. _Emily wouldn't do anything like that on purpose. There is a reason for this…flirting? Is that what this is?_ She focused in on the two of them. It seemed as if they knew each other very well. Much better than anyone else at the table; the other three people seemed confused and/or stoned. Emily and mystery-girl seemed very comfortable with each other, in the way that old friends are comfortable with each other. She looked at the mystery-girl next to Emily, noticing she wasn't wearing the black shirt and shoes that the others were wearing. She was in a t-shirt and jeans, and had a small tattoo she couldn't quite make out on her wrist. She was actually very pretty, in an I-don't-care sort of way. She had bright green eyes and her face was flushed from laughing.

She slowly approached the table, not wanting to drive herself crazy staring at Emily, from afar, touching and interacting with this mystery girl. Emily looked up and her face broke into a huge smile. Despite her current insecurities, Naomi couldn't help but smile back. The redhead basically crawled over the mystery girl, who chuckled and helped her along, and threw her arms around Naomi in a giant hug.

"Wow. Hello, to you, too." Naomi was surprised to say the least, but her surprise was short-lived, and replaced with absolutely nothing as she felt Emily's breath on her ear.

"I missed you. I don't know how I feel about this slow thing." She was clearly a little drunk, but she didn't care, as she reveled in the feel of Emily in her arms once again. She felt her lean back as she met her eyes, and saw that unbelievably sexy smirk in place. "Come on, I want you to meet someone." She pulled her hand, guiding her towards the table. She looked around, ready for introductions, but saw that one of the guys was looking completely out of it. She looked towards the two people next to him and saw that it was a guy and a girl who were currently all over each other. _Wow, that happened in the last two seconds…_They were each dressed in the same black outfit that Emily was in. She could barely tell where one began and the other ended.

"That is Matt. He's had a bit too much of…well, everything. And that's Carrie and Jack and…yeah. And this" she held her hand out, a grin breaking across her face "this is Amanda. My very best friend in the world." The girl smiled up at her, extending her hand towards Naomi. She felt immediately put at ease by her smile; she wasn't sure why. She had that same openness in her eyes that Emily did and her smile seemed genuine.

"Hey. Good to meet you." She moved over in the booth. Emily sat next to her, and before she realized it, she was being pulled into the booth as well. She glanced at the table, seeing at least eight empty shot glasses and four empty pint glasses in front of the two girls.

"So, you two are having a good night?" She glanced pointedly towards the empty glasses. They each laughed.

"Well, I sort of surprised Ems here with my presence. I'm in town for some school stuff, and I sort of just showed up, and we had a little impromptu celebration." Emily suddenly wrapped Amanda in a huge hug, resting her head on her shoulder.

It made her happy to see Emily so comfortable with someone. She had never seen her with friends. Part of her was a little jealous that she wasn't that way with Emily, but Emily looked so happy right now, so she couldn't muster up too much envy. She watched as they launched into stories, inside jokes, and endless laughter. They sat and talked for an hour, laughing and drinking. She gathered that Emily and Amanda had met in University, had lived together most of the time in school, and that Amanda knew Emily so much better than Naomi did.

Naomi liked Amanda. She seemed very genuine and she was one of those people that seemed completely focused on you when you talked, and Naomi had talked a lot, without realizing it. Amanda was extremely easy to talk to and she would ask questions that would keep Naomi chatting. After watching Emily and Amanda interact, she could tell she was silly for the initial reaction of anger. They were both very affectionate people, but she saw that they were more like sisters than anything else. They were both slightly drunk, but she was still thoroughly impressed by how well they held their alcohol. Emily forced her way out of the booth to go to the bathroom, and she was left alone with Amanda. She hadn't realized, until then, that the others had slipped out. She felt eyes on her and slowly looked up to see green looking back at her intently and a little curiously. They sat like that for a few minutes, in complete silence.

"You know, she doesn't really take to many people so quickly." Naomi simply nodded, not sure what to do. "Seriously. It took her an entire semester to really make friends when she went to University. I mean, she is different now. She is so much more aware of herself. So much more happy. She used to be so…" she trailed off, looking a little sad, but she smiled suddenly "….but still. You must be special." She couldn't read Amanda's tone. It was like she was sizing her up, but it didn't feel hostile. She had that same openness in her eyes that Emily did. She suddenly wondered if one of them picked it up from the other.

"I'm not really special. Just…lucky." She chanced a look up into those eyes again, only to find them studying her intently once more.

"You know, I was worried about her when she moved here. It takes her time to make friends. She is very picky and she has high standards…for everyone. And she lives in her own head sometimes. But she isn't like anyone else you will ever meet. She is strong, but she doesn't always know it. She is loyal and honest. And, even though she is very particular about what she puts her heart into, when she picks something, she goes all in. She's very brave in that way. She is a life-changer." She paused. She had leaned over and had a very focused look on her face, seeming to wait for a response. Naomi wasn't sure of what to say. She was mulling over the phrase _life-changer._

"Yeah, I know."

"And you guys fit. She is strong. But she can be hurt. Badly. You got in, somehow, and it's a very exclusive place, Emily's heart. Don't hurt her."

Naomi just sat there. This girl was intimidating her. Naomi Campbell, the ice queen; bitch of all bitches. She was actually terrified. Amanda never said anything threatening, or even remotely mean. She had a feeling that Amanda wasn't even really a confrontational person. It was just a look in her eyes. It was burning. She was very sure, all of the sudden, that this girl would actually fight her if it came to it. She also became scared, for the first time, of hurting Emily. She had already feared for herself, but she had just seen Emily, as Amanda said, as this brave girl who had charged her way into Naomi's heart. She hadn't really thought about the idea that she had done the same to her.

"I have no intention of hurting her."

"Good, because you wouldn't just be dealing with me." She smirked lightly. "I don't know if you have met the other Fitch…but beware." She smiled slightly as she said it, but she could tell that there was some honesty behind it. And just like that, the tension was gone.

Before she could respond, Emily came bounding up. "What are we talking about?"

Amanda smirked. "Your sister, actually. What is Katiekins up to nowadays, anyway?"

Naomi listened as they talked about Katie for a while, becoming a little fearful as they discussed the apparently angrier twin. They moved onto different topics, covering everything from Naomi's job, to Amanda's grad school research, to stupid cartoons they all used to watch. Emily hadn't really drunk much since Naomi had arrived, but they all seemed to be slightly tipsy as they left.

"Ems, I'm gonna be in town for a few days," Amanda said, as they made their way out the door, after a few hours. "We need to go out. Maybe Friday? You should come, too, Naomi."

"I think I can swing that." She smiled.

They said their goodbyes, as Amanda walked towards her hotel, and Emily and Naomi walked hand in hand in the other direction.

"I have missed her so much." Emily smiled as she swung their hands back and forth.

"She seems very cool. I liked her."

"I'm glad." Emily's smile was infectious, and they walked for a few blocks in a content silence. After a few minutes, Naomi looked towards the redhead, only to see a slightly concerned look on her face.

As they arrived in front of Emily's building, she suddenly stopped and turned towards Naomi. "I'm not sure I'm doing this right."

Naomi was a little startled by the sudden outburst. "Doing what right?"

"Taking things slow. I mean, I can call you and text you less, and, you know …_try_ not to sleep over" she leaned closer as she stressed the word 'try', and Naomi felt that familiar gravity between them, "but when I'm with you, it seems so…natural. Like, I just automatically reach for your hand," she felt the hand that wasn't already wrapped in Emily's suddenly become warm, as Emily encased it in her own soft fingers. "And I have almost forgotten, a few times, to not just kiss you whenever I want." She had moved closer slowly, so that Naomi was surprised to find her so near all of the sudden. She looked into Emily's eyes as she talked, seeing that she was actually worried about this.

"Emily." She saw the gorgeous lips in front of her curl slightly at the edges as she said her name. "I understand why you want to take it slow, I really do. And I can do my part to try and make sure that I don't become a hobby or whatever. And I already know that we just…fit. We aren't stupid kids and we aren't imagining this feeling. But maybe we could just start from where we are, and go forward slowly, rather than trying to go backwards, you know? I know we went fast…really fast, but it's already done. We can't change it. And I don't want to. Because…well," she leaned forward and brushed her lips softly against Emily's, "after knowing what it is like to have you, I don't want to not have you just so I can slowly get you again." This time, Emily leaned forward and pressed her lips to Naomi's. As she leaned back, Naomi spoke again. "And I want you to kiss me whenever you feel like it." Emily broke into a huge grin.

"I think I can manage that." She leaned forward slowly. She let out a ragged breath against Naomi's lips, causing her to shudder lightly. But suddenly, she pulled back, grinning devilishly. "Hmmm, I thought I felt like it, but the moment passed." Naomi rolled her eyes as she willingly allowed herself to be pulled along the sidewalk towards Emily's apartment.

* * *

They had decided to watch a movie, though it took Emily twenty minutes to actually pick one. "These are _your_ movies," Naomi complained. "If you don't watch one now, you can just watch it later. I don't see what the big deal is." Emily simply ignored her and carried on looking. Naomi sat completely in amazement as Emily tried to pick between the five random movies she had narrowed it down to. She had Gone With the Wind, White Oleander, Steel Magnolias, Fight Club, and Mean Girls laid out in front of her. She had only just cut Zoolander, Harold and Maude, and Singing in the Rain. Finally, Naomi intervened.

"Look, we should probably actually watch a movie at some point tonight." She reached forward and grabbed the first one she touched, which happened to be Steel Magnolias. "What about this?" She had wanted to continue kissing Emily the second they got back to the apartment, but Emily had become so excited by picking a movie. Seeing that excitement about something so small made Naomi want to throw out the whole 'taking it slow' thing right now. But she would settle for simply getting to be close to her when they finally got around to actually watching a movie. To do that, she needed to move the process along.

"So impatient." Emily smirked towards Naomi. As they finally got the movie in, Emily turned out the lights, and sat down next to Naomi on the couch. Naomi's side was pressed into Emily's, as she tried to keep her eyes on the screen. She was just enjoying watching Emily watch the movie more. She had told Naomi that she had seen this movie at least twenty times, but she still kept laughing when something funny would happen; she kept sighing lightly when something cute happened; she would even recite dialogue along with the characters at certain parts.

As Naomi watched her, she began thinking more and more. She remembered when she was younger, thinking that love was ridiculous. It made people stupid and throw away their dreams. It took happy people and tore them apart. But right now, she was struck with the thought that she never actually knew what it meant to really be in love. Not like this. She always thought that it was this crazy impulse to want someone, triggered by some chemical reaction. It could barely be distinguished from lust really.

But Naomi didn't think it was even about wanting Emily. It was about Emily, herself. It was about who she was; the things that she did; the way that she saw love; the way that she sang along with music like she couldn't help herself; the way that she laughed. It was her strength and her heart. She was so brave and fearless. Suddenly Naomi couldn't look away. She had never been like Emily. Emily had told her, in one of their conversations, about all the things she found beautiful; sunsets, and music, and good stories…the list went on and on. Emily saw beauty in so much. Naomi had never been that taken with anything, until right now. She felt an ache in her chest, like she was going to burst. Emily's face was focused on the movie, her features were stoic, her eyes began to look sad. She assumed something depressing was happening in the movie. Naomi was watching intently, seeing every change in those perfect features. She saw tears well up and begin to fall.

_I never want to make her do that. I want to keep her from doing that._

Without thinking she reached up and wiped a tear away, holding Emily's face in her hands. As they sat like that for a few seconds, Emily's brown eyes looked into her own, no longer sad, but searching. Naomi said the first thing she thought of. "We should have watched a different movie. I really don't like seeing you cry." It came out as barely a whisper. Emily giggled softly.

"Maybe if you had watched the movie, you would have been crying, too." She sent her a knowing smirk.

"Maybe if you were less enjoyable to watch, I could have." Emily's smirk disappeared, and was replaced by a bright smile. She gently bit her lip as she moved slowly forward.

Naomi could swear that Emily was surrounded by some sort of energy. She could feel it sparking as Emily paused centimeters away from her lips to run her eyes over Naomi's face. Emily whispered gently, her breath causing Naomi's eyes to flutter lightly. Emily's voice came out as a low whisper. "How do you do this? I mean…Do you feel it? My whole body is buzzing. You make me feel like I'm going to burst." Emily closed her eyes and sighed. "When I didn't see you for a day, and was keeping myself from texting you, I felt all…achy. Is that normal?"

Naomi shook her head very lightly as she swallowed. "I have no idea." They were both whispering, their faces still separated by very little space. Emily suddenly, and smoothly, maneuvered herself into Naomi's lap, straddling her, but keeping her face mere centimeters away.

"You know, your friends told me about this terribly mean girl they used to know." Emily put her hands on Naomi's neck and began running her thumbs over the skin below her ears. Naomi kept herself from completely losing control by gripping Emily's hips. It didn't help much. The skin on skin contact as her shirt rose slightly caused Naomi to pull her further in. Emily let out a breath. "But I don't think I have gotten more than a glimpse of her. You are so…sweet." She giggled lightly. Naomi felt her face become hot.

Emily leaned in and Naomi felt that everything in her body seemed to shift into place. It was as if she was watching this redheaded goddess move in slow motion towards her. Her pink lips were parted slightly, and those deep brown eyes bored into her own. It felt like she was floating as Emily's soft lips slid against her own, and she knew that this was how it was supposed to be; this was how it was supposed to feel. The kisses became deep but stayed slow and sensual, their tongues tasting each other; their hands slowly roaming over each other. After a few minutes drowning in the beautiful girl sitting on her lap, they broke apart slowly to breathe, leaning into each others' foreheads.

"I forgot to tell you, I'm starting a team." Naomi could not help but chuckle at the fact that Emily's voice was still so low and husky.

"Um, okay. Where did that come from?"

"Well…I…um…" her cheeks had become bright red, and she had become focused on a piece of Naomi's hair that she was twirling in her finger. _So cute_.

"What?"

"I was just…trying to go slow. It is very difficult with you, and just sitting here is making me…ugh," Naomi had suddenly become extremely turned on. Emily's voice became more gravely as she continued her rant, and the noise she made at the end of her sentence was this primal growl. It reminded her of the last time she had heard a noise like that from Emily. "Do you want to join the team? Our first game is next weekend. We are even going to start practicing a few nights a week." Naomi was very concerned that she was going to begin to connect Emily talking about soccer to this moment. She kept rubbing circles on Naomi's neck and she was still so close, her breath was brushing her lips.

Emily suddenly readjusted herself, pressing her breasts against Naomi's, causing her to gasp. Naomi snapped. She couldn't control herself. Part of her wanted to talk about this new team; about Emily planning the whole thing; about who else was going to be on the team. Another part of her was trying to scream at her to slow down, but she could not help herself. Nothing but the sound of Emily's voice, as she began sucking on her smooth, silky neck, could break through her mind at that moment.

"I don't think I want to take it slow anymore." Emily's voice, combined with her hands running through Naomi's hair, pulling her closer, was setting her body on fire.

"Me either." She breathed the words against Emily's neck, feeling her shudder. She flipped her over, pinning her on her back, smiling as she heard her release a tiny squeal.

Things slowed slightly, though the tension remained. Naomi looked down into Emily's eyes. She didn't know why she had ever been afraid of this before.

_Life changer. _She was struck by how true that phrase was applied to Emily.

"This could work you know." She laid her body down flat on Emily's, feeling the heat between her legs growing rapidly, and the swelling in her chest giving her a pleasant high on Emily. She was just like a drug. "You are amazing. You are gorgeous, and funny, and smart, and passionate. I love seeing you sing along to music, and I love seeing you with your friends. I really do love you. And I can go as slow or as fast as you want. But I realized something earlier…when I thought Amanda was…well…you know…" she couldn't believe this was coming out of her mouth.

"Naomi! Really? She is like my sister and…" Naomi leaned down, silencing her with her lips and her tongue for a few minutes.

She pulled back slowly, pressing her body down into Emily as she heard her whimper from the loss of contact between their lips. But she had to get this out.

"I know, I know all that. But I realized something. I want to be…." She let out a sigh, "exclusive. I don't want anyone else."

Emily raised her eyebrows, but her face stayed the same otherwise.

"I mean…um…we don't have to….just…I went a little crazy for a second…I mean not crazy…I just…"

She felt herself suddenly pulled down as their lips crashed together again.

"That sounds good to me. Really good." They fell into each other. She got lost in everything Emily. Their clothes were gone in moments. She wanted to taste her everywhere. Emily's soft skin, Emily's perfect breasts, her taut stomach, her neck._ God her neck! I could stay like this, feeling her everywhere, for days._

She felt like she was feeling and tasting her everywhere all at once. It wasn't as frenzied as last time. It was slow but so…big. Everything felt so intense. Every moment was so full. Naomi felt like everything was building up slowly. There was so much potential in this moment. She felt herself passing somesort of barrier. Or breaking through it. She heard Emily panting, groaning, and making the most beautiful sounds she could remember hearing. She latched her lips around her nipple, circling it; sucking it, eliciting a deep groan from the gorgeous redhead beneath her. She brought her hands up to her breasts, replacing her tongue, twisting her nipples lightly, causing Emily to thrust her hips upwards. She rapidly moved down her wonderful stomach with her tongue, racing downwards, continuing to massage those wonderful breasts. Finally she reached her destination, immediately rubbing her tongue over her clit. Emily was so wet, it made Naomi's own center flood.

She ran her tongue everywhere, sucking, tasting. Her hands were completely out of control, touching this beautiful girl any place she could reach, rubbing her in certain places, ghosting her finger tips in other places. Over the sides of her breasts, cupping her ass, caressing her neck. Finally, she found those warm Emily-hands. She loved those hands. She gripped them tightly, and it was reciprocated, as she began to flick her now swollen clit, hearing her own name in her ears, becoming louder and louder, in that gorgeous voice.

"Fuck! Naomi! Naomes! Na-FUCK!"

Her whole body shook, as Naomi continued, until Emily could take no more and crashed over the edge. She made her way back towards Emily's lips, kissing her gently, wrapping her arms around her tightly, feeling her body handle the after-shocks.

"That was a 'yes', by the way…to the 'exclusive' thing. Though, I feel like, you know, the other way around would have been a better 'yes'. You know, to really get my point across. You just couldn't be stopped." Naomi smiled, nuzzling into her neck.

"So," she kissed her neck, "does that mean," kiss, "you are my," kiss, "girlfriend?"

"Well, only if you will join my soccer team."

"I think I can do that."

"Hmm, I think we need a proper 'yes'." Suddenly Naomi was on her back, feeling Emily on top of her.

_I think I can get used to this commitment thing._


	14. Chapter 14

_**So very sorry for the delay. Been sort of crazy. I think this story is drawing to a close, but I can't be sure. Not sure about this chapter, but I wanted to give you something. So here it is.**_

_**I don't own Skins.**_

**Emily**

Emily stared fixedly at the blur of blonde hair and blue streaming across the field, evading the other team the entire way and, once again, sending the ball swiftly into the back of the net. The team cheered and converged on her, which had become a regular occurrence over the course of the last few months.

Forming the team had gone off without a hitch. Naomi had enough contacts in the city that they were able to get the word out pretty easily and, as it turned out, there were plenty of girls interested. So much, in fact, that they had to form two separate teams. Emily felt an odd sense of having done something and couldn't help but feel that it had something to do with the blonde she was currently staring at. Naomi, smiling brightly, glanced in her direction, her smile growing even wider as she blushed slightly. _God she is beautiful._

Emily was lost then. Luckily she wasn't on the field. Naomi always sent her into a daydream, of sorts. In the past few months, she felt changed completely. Somehow, despite their rushed start to the relationship, they had been able to successfully slow things down, with a fair amount of difficulty. After the first week of trying to slow things down and still staying over at each others places every night, Emily had become completely useless in every other aspect of her life. She just wanted to be with Naomi all the time. So she came up with the best solution she could think of, which happened to also be the terrible idea of trying to put some space between them for a short period. It hadn't gone over so well at first. She remembered Naomi's anger.

"_So…you don't want to see me as often? Or you want to take a break? I don't understand…" Emily saw the confusion in those beautiful blue eyes, and almost forgot the plan._

"_Naomi." She took a timid step forward. "You know that that isn't it. You know that I love you. But that is the problem. I have only known you for a few weeks and I can already feel myself getting lost in you. Really, I don't want to do anything _but_ be with you, all the time." Even then, being that close to her, Emily could feel her resolve weakening, so she took a step back._

"_That is why I just…I just need us to go back a few steps…just…" she let out a frustrated sigh. _Why is this even an issue. What the hell am I doing?_ Emily felt the confusion wash over her as she closed her eyes, trying to escape the piercing gaze from the eyes in front of her._

"_But we already discussed this, remember?" Naomi's voice had a hint of panic in it. "We decided there was no point in going back. That we couldn't…we didn't think we could…"_

"_And that still may be true…believe me, it feels like that right now. But I am not saying I want to stop seeing you. I'm not saying I want to break up or anything like that." Emily allowed a slight shiver to run through her, at the thought. "I'm just saying…I need a little time to ease into it…does that make sense?"_

_Naomi stared at her for a moment, her face unreadable. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed and, to Emily's surprise, a small smirk appeared on her face. "Are you saying" she stepped closer "that you want to stop…um" she took another step closer, all but trapping Emily against a wall "being" Naomi let out a sigh, as her eyebrows raised "intimate…with me?"_

_She was so close now, Emily's mind was a bit fuzzy. They weren't touching, but she could feel her everywhere. Her scent filled her head. She was wearing a top that exposed her collarbones and the top of her chest, allowing just enough space to see a teasing amount of her cleavage. The atmosphere that they always created when they were close seemed to be taking over again. She felt like she would explode if she didn't touch her._

_But she knew she wouldn't._

"_Just…" Emily cleared her throat, forcing her next words to be stronger. "Just for a little bit. I want…" Emily forced the rational part of her brain forward, "I want this to be perfect." She chanced a glance up at Naomi's face. There was no longer a smirk, but there wasn't an angry look either. Emily was grateful for that. Naomi's face had softened and she seemed to be thinking. Finally she spoke._

"_You know, this is highly unusual." Emily had to give her that. She knew she couldn't begin to explain her rationale to herself, much less to Naomi. She just knew she had to do this._

"_Yeah."_

"_And you know I wouldn't do this for anyone else." Emily let the corner of her mouth curl up slightly. _

_Naomi spoke again, her voice getting a slight edge in it again. "I can't promise I can go along with this for too long." Emily nodded her head again. _

"_But I get that you need time."_

_They stood in silence for a moment, watching each other. Suddenly, Naomi reached out and pulled Emily into a hug. Emily would never get over how safe she felt in Naomi's arms. How comforted she felt. It wasn't just about lust with her. She had already become one of the best friends she had ever had. She could feel so many things just through this hug. She felt Naomi move her lips towards her ear._

"_Can I still kiss you?" It was barely whispered and the breath on her ear sent a tingling sensation down her neck._

"_I think that would be okay."_

_Naomi pulled back and slowly brought her lips to Emily's. They stood there, kissing, for what seemed like forever, before Naomi finally pulled away, smiling, and looked into Emily's eyes._

"_I should go then….before I can't…you know…" Emily did know._

"_Okay."_

_Naomi turned to leave, but stopped with her hand on the door. "I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"_

_Emily smiled and nodded her head, as she watched Naomi leave. She would think of nothing but that call until it happened._

It had gone very well since then. They had gone out at least three times a week since then. Every date seemed to consist of Emily trying to find out everything about Naomi that she possibly could. The more she got to know her, the more she wanted to know her. And every date seemed to end up the same; one or both of them getting lost in a particularly heated kiss, which sometimes led to a particularly heated make-out session. Hands on skin, their breath mixing, their tongues driving each other insane, before someone would pull back. Surprisingly, it was usually Naomi. She seemed determined to make sure Emily didn't do anything she would regret. Emily hated and loved it about her. At those times, she usually felt like throwing all of it away, just to be able to be able to feel all of Naomi, everywhere, once again.

But, now, as she saw Naomi running across the field, she knew she was ready. She had grown so much in the past few months. She had this drive that she had never felt before. She felt at ease with herself; comfortable in her own skin. Life was something she had felt she had just been gliding through for so long. Now she simply loved living it. She had a passion for it that she couldn't remember having before. She felt strong and she felt, for the first time in her life, that she was whole. That she had so much in her and she needed to share it. And she knew who she wanted to share it with.

As she found Naomi's eyes once again, she saw a surprised look flit across her beautiful features, and then she saw a look in those eyes that must be reflecting the look in her own. They were blazing and she couldn't look away. Suddenly she wanted the game to be over more than anything else.


	15. Chapter 15

_**Thanks for the reviews and the advice! I think I'm gonna try to put at least a few more miles on this story. This seems a little choppy, but I hope you enjoy.**_

_**I don't own skins.**_

**Naomi**

Naomi's legs were tired but she continued to jog back to the other side of the field, feeling victorious after scoring yet another goal. Her eyes shifted, as they had throughout the game, to the redhead on the side of the field. As she did every time, she found Emily looking directly at her. Something was different this time, though. She had that look in her eyes. That look Naomi only associated with Emily's desire. Her arms were crossed in front of her, like she was holding herself together, and she was standing completely still, but Naomi could swear that she was leaning forward slightly. Emily had this way of gazing at Naomi, completely focusing. It was like she was doing it with her entire body. Like she was reaching out with her eyes and beckoning Naomi forward.

The rest of the game went by in a haze. She was distracted, to say the least. Emily had been avoiding looking at Naomi like that for a few months now (aside from a few times when things became too heated, and Naomi was forced to do the noble thing. For all of Emily's amazing qualities, she had some trouble with will power.) But now Emily was looking at her with something like determination, love, and lust all mixed together. It was a powerful look. Naomi was very curious as to what that might mean.

The last few months had easily been some of the best in Naomi's life. When Emily had first put forth the idea of going back to not sleeping with each other, Naomi was sure she wouldn't be able to do it. But really, it didn't change anything between them, other than making them both slightly more sexually frustrated. She loved sex with Emily, more than just about anything. But, as she thought more about it, she had realized that she probably loved just being with Emily even more. If she had to trade one for the other, she would take being with Emily in a heartbeat, which was very disconcerting. She couldn't wrap her mind around it. And she had definitely tried.

She had often thought about that first week that they had spent basically having sex very consistantly, breaking for work, sleep, and food (sometimes the latter two went forgotten). She could not grasp how that could be second to anything. But Emily was…Emily. And the more she knew about her, the more she wanted to know about her.

They had gone out to countless dinners. Naomi had learned that Emily would eat just about anything. She hated olives, loved chocolate more than anyone Naomi had ever met. She always had to have water at every meal, regardless of what else she was drinking, and she always wanted Naomi to try her food.

They had also watched almost all of the movies in Emily's apartment. Naomi loved to watch Emily during these viewings. She became so focused and lost in the stories, despite having seen most of them before. She loved a happy ending; the stories of redemption. But, if possible, she seemed to love the depressing ones and the ones that made her think more. Naomi was still so enthralled by the way Emily seemed to love letting her emotions wash over her. She gave herself over to tears so easily, never holding them back. She seemed the most beautiful to Naomi when she began laughing through tears.

All the times they went out, Naomi had automatically compiled so much information about Emily. She never tired of learning new things about the redhead. The way she threw her head back when she laughed loudly. The way she always looked directly into someone's eyes when she spoke to them. Emily's natural affection was probably one of her favorite things, though. It was just Emily's automatic way to interact with the people that she knew. Holding Naomi's hand; tracing circles on Naomi's palm. When she moved behind Naomi, she always gave her a small touch, holding her finger tips on the small of her back, or skimming her forearm with her hand. She was never shy about kissing her in public or standing closer than necessary in a store. It was probably this tendency to show affection in that way that made the lack of sex bearable.

The strange thing was, Naomi didn't even mind. She had never been an affectionate person, always hating it when guys would try to grope her in public, but it was so easy with Emily. It always felt natural; like that is exactly how it was supposed to be. They seemed to work together, not just their personalities, or their senses of humor, but the physical space they shared. They seemed to naturally adjust to each other's movements, always needing to touch each other, always instinctively reaching out.

Naomi was snapped out of her reverie by a whistle blowing. The game was over. She had been completely spaced out for the last five minutes. They shook hands with the other team and Naomi headed straight towards Emily, not planning on stopping. However, she was stopped before she could reach her, by Alison. Alison was the keeper for their team and always very friendly towards Naomi. (Sometimes, more friendly than Emily seemed to liked). She was slightly taller than Naomi with dark brown hair and bright green eyes.

"Hey Naomi! Great game. You were brilliant, as always." Alison touched Naomi's upper arm, which wasn't unusual, but Naomi saw Emily behind her, growing more intense, and looking a little angry.

"Um, yeah. Thanks Alison." She moved quickly past the girl, smiling, but keeping her eyes on the redhead in front of her.

Naomi reached her hands out resting them on Emily's hips. "Hey, don't look like that." She smirked, seeing Emily's eyes soften, looking away from Alison.

"She knows we are together. But she still…" Naomi smiled at her, gripping her hips tighter.

"Hey. She is just being nice. And anyway, do you really think anything would ever happen? Seriously?"

"It's not that. I just don't like her flirting with you." But Naomi saw that she was calming significantly.

"Come on, Ems." She pulled her closer, moving her mouth to Emily's ear. "She is not you." She felt Emily release a breath onto her neck, giggling lightly, as Naomi felt soft hands slide up her arms.

"I suppose I can't blame her for wanting to touch you." Emily ran the tips of her fingers along the back of Naomi's neck, sending a shiver down her spine. Naomi was positive, at times like these, that Emily had some sort of special powers. Suddenly Emily's eyes became more serious. Naomi recognized the look of Emily's impending honesty.

"I think I am ready, Naoms." She barely whispered, but she was close enough that Naomi heard her quite clearly. She stared intently back into those smoldering brown eyes. "I mean…I want to…to move forward with you. And I know you think it's a little silly, since we have technically already been there…" she looked down, as her face became red.

"I have already told you, I don't think it's silly." She pulled her hand around to tilt Emily's head back up with her finger, seeing her eyes once more.

As if Naomi had said nothing, Emily continued. "And you still went along with this whole thing and let me have this weird request, and made me stick to it…even when it was…difficult…" she said the last word with a slightly huskier voice, and Naomi's mind filled with all of those times in the past few months, when they were so close to giving in. At this moment, she felt like she had succeeded in finishing some sort of marathon, as she went through all of those instances at one time. She felt them move closer together, infinitesimally. She glanced up a little, seeing that there was no longer anyone on the field. _How long have we been here?_ The tendency for time to warp around Emily was another thing she had learned to expect. She quickly refocused.

"And you make me feel so…happy. I just…I can't even really see any reason to keep this from going forward. I feel like…like I need it. Like I need you." Emily's eyes locked into Naomi's, and neither seemed to be able to look away. Naomi was so close to taking Emily right there, in the middle of a public park, but she curbed the impulse, not wanting to end up in jail. She didn't know how Emily made her feel so sexy and so loved all at once. Every physical urge she had towards her seemed so strong because it was filled with something so intimate; so very palpable. She could almost feel it flowing from Emily's eyes; through her mouth; straight into her heart.

"I think I can get on board with that decision." Before Naomi knew it, they were kissing. She could never get enough of kissing Emily; her taste; her passion. The way their lips slid against each other; how they fit so seemlessly. It was something she could get lost in for hours.

They stood like that for a moment, kissing and feeling each other. In the back of her mind, Naomi was vaguely aware of how they must look. Had pre-Emily Naomi walked by and seen them, she would have rolled her eyes and scoffed. But she didn't care. She reveled in the feel of Emily's hips; the skin there that Emily was allowing her to touch. She always thought she looked so beautiful in her t-shirts and shorts. It was so relaxed and dressed down but she loved it. She loved how her hands felt under the fabric, resting on her stomach. How she was somehow closer to Emily than even her clothes. She felt a fairly constant tingle running up and down her spine as one of Emily's hands played with the hair on the back of her neck, the other ghosting against her collar bone, running down against the side of her breast.

Suddenly Emily pulled back, so quickly that Naomi whimpered and leaned forward, automatically searching for those lips again. "So…are we going out tonight?"

Eager to be kissing her again, Naomi nodded and pulled her back, falling into her once more.

* * *

_Why are you nervous? You have done this before; hundreds of times, in fact._ Naomi couldn't calm her nerves. This was just like any other date. Except, ever since Emily had mentioned moving forward again, Naomi had been inexplicably nervous. She wasn't sure why. It felt bigger to her this time. The first time was amazing; life altering, actually. But she had gotten to know Emily so much. What she felt for her was almost too much to comprehend at this point. Emily had become a part of her; had changed her. She knew it that it would be amazing…but she was still scared.

She knocked on the door. She thought she heard people talking on the other side, which was strange, but she figured Emily just had the television on. She was proved wrong as the door swung open, revealing Cook, grinning widely, clearly awaiting a response from Naomi.

"Babe!"

Naomi just stared at him for a moment. _Why is he here?_

As if reading the question in her eyes, he spoke again, "I know you and your lady love here have plans, but I thought that it was my duty to remind you of those you have forgotten." He smirked a little, but she could see the accusation in his eyes. Naomi was confused. They had hung out with Cook and Freddie just the other night. What did he mean, forgotten?

"It's Effy's birthday." Emily walked into the room, looking very morose and guilty. She threw herself down on the couch, sighing loudly. "This is all my fault."

"What's your fault?" Naomi's mind was reeling. _But Effy's birthday isn't until…oh shit. Shit. Shit. Shit._

"Shit. How could I forget? What is wrong with me?" She looked over at Emily. "And what do you mean it's your fault? Did you even know when Effy's birthday was?" Only Emily could blame herself for something like this. Naomi knew this was all her own fault. Naomi and Effy usually had breakfast on each other's birthdays. Then they would walk around aimlessly in the city. It's just how they were, both able to silently enjoy each other's company. They would spend the afternoon drinking at Keith's with the rest of the group and then they would all either go out or go to a party.

And she had forgotten completely.

"I don't know…it just _feels_ like my fault." Emily was getting very worked up. Naomi knew why. Emily had this thing about birthdays. She had told her at some point that she thought everyone should have their birthdays' celebrated properly. That it was a day that people should be made to feel special, no matter who they were.

Naomi turned to Cook. "Is she angry?"

He shrugged. "She is Effy," he said, as if this explained everything. She supposed it did. Effy was never one to show her feelings. Had this happened five years ago, Naomi was sure the Effy would not care in the slightest. But she had changed. She was like Naomi's family and she had been through so much. _And I forgot her fucking birthday._

She had been so wrapped up in Emily, she hadn't really seen Effy in a few weeks. Now that she thought of it, Effy had seemed even more distant than normal the last few times she _had_ seen her. Naomi had been so preoccupied, floating on the cloud that was Emily, that it hadn't seemed out of the ordinary. But she had become one of those people; those idiots who put their girlfriend before their friends. Was she one of those people? She couldn't be one of those people! Emily's downtrodden face seemed to suggest that she, herself, thought she was _that_ girlfriend. She suddenly felt a little nauseous. She had to see Effy. She had to...explain...or apologize...or something.

Cook interrupted her thoughts once more.

"So, who's up for a party?"

_**So next time, I am going to try some delving into Effy. I'm a little nervous about it. We'll see.**_


	16. Chapter 16

_**Not sure how I feel about this. Let me know what you think.**_

_**I don't own skins.**_

**Naomi**

Naomi was brought back to a time in her life when she took many more drugs and had far less responsibility, simply by seeing the house in front of her. It was the party house of her early adolescence, just as she remembered it. She heard the music thumping and she saw the crowd through the window. It was a little less noisy than it usually was when she was younger. There were also no drunk teenagers throwing up in the front yard or beer cans littering the grass. She was glad that, though she knew inside was probably just as crazy as it had always been, at least they were much less likely to get the cops called with just those few slightly responsible precautions.

"Seriously, Ems? You dragged me to _this_?"

Naomi rolled her eyes, almost having forgotten the unfortunate guest they had acquired just as they left the apartment.

"Shut up Katie." Emily squeezed Naomi's hand and sent an apologetic look her way. She heard the other twin release a frustrated grunt, but she said nothing else as they walked toward the door.

They had been leaving the apartment when Emily got a call from her sister, telling her she was coming over, demanding that they spend some time together. Even as Emily tried to talk her way out of it, they ran into the other Fitch at the front of the building. Katie had still barely ever spoken to Naomi, even though her and Emily had been dating for almost two months. She got the distinct feeling that Katie didn't care too much for her. But since Emily refused to do anything but go to the party, Katie, not to be easily shaken off, insisted on tagging along. The only one who seemed delighted by the resulting arrangement was Cook, making several not-so-subtle comments about twins.

"Katie, love. Don't worry!" He reached around her shoulders with his arm, ignoring her cringe at the proximity, and looked wistfully up at the house. "Effy's parties are top notch. You will not leave unsatisfied." He wiggled his eyebrows, released her, and bounded off towards the door.

Cook had already disappeared by the time they passed the threshold. Naomi led the way, gripping Emily's hand, guiding her through the crowd, heading towards the make shift bar in the kitchen. Naomi couldn't help but smile as she looked around. It was as if she had been transported back five years. She even recognized a few faces. As she saw a dancing Effy across the room, she was reminded of the first time she had seen the very same thing.

_She watched in shock and disgust as she saw a scrawny boy she recognized from one of her classes drop a few pills into a cup and swirl it around._

"_Oi! Blondie! Didn't I tell you I would show you a good time. This party's fuckin' ace!" She turned to look at Cook, and when she turned back the boy was gone. She sighed, skimming the crowd, but she couldn't find him. She wanted to do something. She knew that cup wasn't meant for him. It wasn't right. She was just drunk enough to give up her search, for the time being, reluctantly grinning up at her new friend._

"_I guess its okay, yeah." She let him lead her to the middle of the living room, or what people had deemed the dance floor. She thought she would hate hanging out with this guy, but after she slapped him for trying it on one too many times, he was actually okay. A bit rough around the edges, but not so bad, really. "So, whose house is this, anyway?" She had to raise her voice slightly to be heard._

"_Effy's. Weird girl, but she throws an excellent party." He motioned behind Naomi, with a strange look in his eye that Naomi had never seen on his face. Usually, Cook felt an attraction, and acted. Most girls had, surprisingly, responded to his persistence. This longing look wasn't like him. Clearly he was leaving something out about this Effy girl. But Naomi realized, as she saw her, that Cook wasn't the only one with that look on his face. There were quite a few guys littered throughout the crowd with a certain longing in their eyes, looking at Effy Stonem. She could see why. She was gorgeous._

_She was dancing in the middle of the crowd, clearly off her face, and surrounded by people. Her hands were raised above her head, and despite the crowd surrounding her, she seemed to be separate from all of them; untouchable. She looked like she was seeing something move in the air that no one else could see, and it made her smile for seconds at a time. But most of the time, between the fleeting grins, she had this look on her face. Naomi thought it looked sad at first, but sad wasn't the right word. She had seen people look sad before. Effy had a look that was new to Naomi. It was an aged look. A look that didn't fit with Effy's youth. Her eyes, when they were open, seemed to be resigned to something far worse than sadness. Naomi shook her head a little, feeling that maybe something she had taken was sending her thoughts into overdrive, causing her to overanalyze someone who was clearly just wasted._

_And then Effy looked up, almost as if she sensed someone was watching her with something other than lust. Naomi couldn't help but stare back and was met with an almost curious expression, before Effy smirked, looking away once more, at someone approaching from across the crowd. She brought her hands down in what Naomi thought was an odd way; holding them at her sides, palms facing out, looking like someone offering themselves up as a sacrifice._ That girl is weird, _she thought, trying not to think too much about the scars she saw covering Effy's wrists. Her heart clenched slightly, but she ignored it._

_Then she realized who was approaching Effy through the crowd. It was the boy from before, who had slipped something in a drink. He was talking to Effy, offering her the cup he held in his hands. Effy had a knowing look in her eyes, but reached for the cup anyway. Before she knew it, Naomi was across the floor, standing in front of the two of them, feeling her temperature rising to a dangerous level, shocking herself. _

"_Can I help you?" The boy asked, shooting her an annoyed look._

_She just sent him a disgusted glance, not bothering to answer, looking at Effy instead. "Do you have a cigarette?" Effy just stared at her, seeming to be completely unsurprised by her sudden appearance. She certainly seemed less surprised than Naomi was at her own random question. Naomi just wanted to remove this girl from this particular situation._

"_We were talking. You can fuck off now." The boy spoke, but backed away immediately as Naomi reacted._

"_I don't think I was directing any sort of comment at you! How 'bout I fuck off and you can go fuck yourself!" Naomi was at least a few inches taller than him, but after his initial recoiling, he regained his composure and took an aggressive step forward._

"_Listen bitch…" but he didn't get anymore out before he was roughly pushed back by Cook, who was suddenly there, glaring, and looking ready for a fight. _

"Oi_! Do we have a problem?" Suddenly a very similar looking guy, about a foot taller than the boy, came forward. He looked at the kid (clearly his brother) and then stepped forward towards Cook, probably to argue. Naomi never found out for sure. Before he could get a word out, he stepped too close to Cook, who immediately jumped at him, tackling him to the ground, hitting him repeatedly. _

_After a short scuffle, in which Cook seemed to come out on top, they were pulled apart and thrown out by a few other guys, Cook laughing manically the entire way. She would have to remember to call him later. When everyone had calmed down, most people happy that it all happened without police being called, Naomi and Effy stood on the wall in silence._

"_That was unnecessary." Naomi looked up at Effy's words. She knew she was talking less about Cook's little fray, and more about her getting involved in the situation in the first place._

_She just shrugged. "Yeah, well…" She didn't know what else to say._

"_Smoke?"_

"_Sure."_

She remembered that version of Effy. She was completely aloof towards everything in a completely terrifying way. Naomi always felt like she was standing on the edge of danger, waiting to fall over. Naomi saw her in countless situations like that over the next few years. She'd tried to stop as much of it from gettting too far as she could. She had this reckless abandon about her. Like she saw everything and didn't want anything to do with any of it; like she was always trying to get away from it.

Naomi was sure, after that first night they met, Effy wouldn't speak to her again. But she always found her at school; at parties. They didn't really speak much at first. Effy would just sit with her. They would help each other out, but never talk about it. When Effy had her melt down and had to go to the hospital, or was in the midst of all of the drama with Cook and Freddie, she would show up at Naomi's house. Sometimes they would talk about whatever it was. Most of the time, it seemed like a place for Effy to rest. They would just be.

Sometimes she would stay for a day; sometimes for weeks. When Naomi was upset, she would do the same. Effy never required an explanation. Most of the time it seemed like she knew what had happened anyway. And then, slowly, Effy changed. She still had something deep in her that no one seemed to be able to reach or understand. But Naomi stopped worrying about what she might do. Effy became happier. She became more grounded. Naomi saw it as acclimation to a world Effy never quite fit into.

Naomi found it strange that Effy hadn't looked at her yet. She knew she had seen her. Effy always saw everything.

She turned to look at Emily, unconsciously, making sure she was still there, and saw her sending her sister a confused look. Her eyes glanced toward Katie, and she saw why.

Katie was staring holes into the side of Effy's head. There was an intensity there that took Naomi by surprise. Apparently, Emily was just as confused. "Katie." Silence. "Katie!"

"What?" She snapped her head towards Emily, looking flushed and a little angry.

"Um…what's up?"

"N-Nothing." She paused, glancing back towards Effy. "What's with that girl. She's…she's a bit off, isn't she?"

Naomi laughed. "Yeah, Katie. She is. A bit." She could see where Katie got that impression. Effy was dancing like she always did; as if she was alone in a room on a different plane of existence. She wanted to go talk to her, but thought she would wait. Effy looked like she was in her own world at the moment. Instead, she sat, drinking her drink, holding Emily's hand, just talking, putting off the moment she would approach her.

After her first two drinks were gone, she was finding it difficult to remember why it was so important that they came, unable to focus on much more than Emily sitting so closely to her. She was laughing at something, running her fingers up and down Naomi's arm, leaving a trail of heat where they touched.

As Katie left to find the restroom, Emily moved her lips close to Naomi's ear. "Are you having fun?" Naomi swallowed hard, trying to find words.

"Mhmm..."

"Did I tell you how gorgeous you look?" She placed her lips gently on the space below Naomi's ear. Naomi smiled, releasing a soft sigh. She felt Emily pull back, her attention temporarily somewhere else. She turned to see why.

"I think you should go talk to Effy. She just went outside." Her brown eyes looked so worried, so sincere, Naomi wanted to hug her tightly. She became inexplicably nervous.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just…we've never really had any issues. I don't…I don't know how to approach this." Naomi felt silly for saying it, but knew it was the truth as it came out.

"You have never fought? Like…ever?" Naomi could tell Emily was floored. She imagined having a sister like Katie around, Emily would have had her fair share of practice in conflict resolution.

"No. Not really. We've always sort of been…each others' escape from fights. I have never been in a position to mess up this badly." She felt a new wave of guilt wash over her. She had never let Effy down. Effy had never really let her down either. Nothing was ever important enough to either of them to do that. Until now, Naomi was sure nothing would ever make her screw that up.

"Well…" Emily thought for a second, and then shrugged. "You should probably still go out and see her." She kissed her cheek and nudged her off the couch. Naomi had been hoping for more; maybe words of wisdom…or specific instructions. Slowly, she made her way out the back door, finding Effy sitting alone, cigarette in hand, staring at the sky.

"hey."

"Hey."

"Happy birthday." Effy simply nodded. Naomi sat down beside her, feeling awkward. They sat like that for a moment, before Effy spoke.

"I didn't think it would hurt so badly." Naomi looked at her, trying to keep her composure. Suddenly, though, a sad smile appeared on her face. "But I'm still here." She looked at the sky thoughtfully, her face blank again. "It's strange."

Naomi wasn't sure what to say. "I'm total shit. I'm sorry."

"It's not okay…but I get it. You are still adjusting to the light." Naomi looked at her confused, trying to work out the words she heard.

Effy looked at her, serious again. "Remember that first night we met?" Naomi nodded her head, still trying to figure out where she was going. "There were at least five other people who saw him doctor that cup. None of them even batted an eye lash. People all just move around, rubbing against each other, letting things slide, accepting the dark." Her smirk was back. "But you couldn't stand it. You were always pretending to be something darker, but you were always so bright. You were always reaching for the brightness. Trying to do the right thing just because it's the right thing. It's weird." Naomi couldn't stop the scoff that escaped her at Effy Stonem calling her weird. Effy smirked right back. She paused. "Emily is bright, too. The two of you burn. I think...I think you have finally caught the brightness...and she has temporarily blinded you." Effy smiled, as if this was wonderful news, but she still had that glimmer of an undefined sadness in her eyes. It always made Naomi's heart ache.

Naomi was still confused, but she felt a smile spread across her face. She actually thought she understood. "I've missed you, you know." And she had. She missed all of the cryptic things that flowed out of Effy's mouth, but that always made so much sense. Effy gave her a rare smile, lighting up her whole face.

"Dance?"

"Sure."

She followed her back into the house, into the throng of people pulsing to the music. They raised their arms, laughing as they swayed and jumped. Naomi suddenly felt familiar hands on her waste turning to see Emily already so close. She simply smiled. She knew what Effy meant about the brightness. She felt on fire, having Emily so close to her.

She looked sideways to see Katie, awkwardly dancing as close to Emily as she could, not quite drunk enough to let too many people she didn't know dance too closely. She saw her sending furtive glances towards Effy. As Naomi looked towards Effy, she was surprised to find her doing the same.

For the first time in her life, Naomi thought she saw Effy Stonem blush.


	17. Chapter 17

**So I can do nothing but apologize for how long it has been since I've updated. I finally put this together over the past few months. I felt that I needed to finish the story. So I wrote the last two chapters. It bothered me that I hadn't. But I don't know how I feel about it. I'm not sure I put the whole thing together very well, and I know some of it is choppy, but I hope its not too bad.**

**I'm starting on another story. It will be a bit different I think. Hopefully an improvement. I plan on sticking with it a little longer than I did with this one.**

**Also, I'm thinking of doing a sequel, or just a separate story, involving some Keffy? I just got really into writing about them. I think I might have gotten a little sidetracked actually.**

**Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.**

**And I am really trying to improve my writing, so please review!**

**I don't own skins.**

Chapter 17

She woke to the delicious scent of Naomi wrapped around her. It was still dark and she had that strange feeling she always got when she woke up in an unfamiliar place. But any anxiety disappeared as she felt those arms wrapped tightly around her waist and released a contented sigh.

After laying there for a second, she started to notice a sort of dull ache in her back. She wanted to stretch out, but she didn't want to wake Naomi. Sleeping on the floor had not been part of the plan, but that was where she found herself. She heard a familiar snoring sound coming from a few feet away and saw Katie fast asleep on the floor next to the sofa. The fact that Katie was on the floor was enough to make Emily curious. She had never known the Katie Fitch to give up a comfortable place to sleep for the floor.

There was a blanket and pillow on the sofa, which showed all the signs of being slept in, but it was empty now. She looked around, seeing nothing but beer cans and someone's pants sitting outside the nearest bedroom door. She sat up slowly, adjusting Naomi so that she wouldn't wake up, and looked around. The back door was cracked and she saw cigarette smoke against the sky. She could make out Effy's silhouette through the window. Aside from the slight movement of her lips as she blew smoke into the air, she was completely still.

She watched the picturesque image for a moment, trying to read something out of it. She had found Effy very interesting from the beginning. Very intentional, always doing something for a reason. Never sharing much with most people, and always watching. Always seeming so certain of what was going on at all times. She did not seem very certain of much at this moment. After what she had seen the night before, Emily was more than interested in why that seemed to be the case.

_As she saw Naomi come back inside with Effy, she couldn't help but skip a little as she moved quickly towards her. She was slightly tipsy and so happy to see her girlfriend that she couldn't help it. Her arms automatically reached for the blonde's waist as she danced, breathing Naomi in deeply, wrapping her arms around the tall slender figure._ _She knew Katie was nearby, not having left her side for the entire night, but she had entertained her sister enough. All she could think of now was Naomi. _

_As they began to dance, Emily felt, for just a moment, that wonderful feeling of actually letting everything go. She heard Katie laughing a little, which was a rarity in itself. Effy and Naomi had made up and Naomi was wrapped in Emily's arms, her back fitting perfectly into Emily's front. After a few minutes, it seemed that almost everyone at the party was dancing with them. _

_She had no idea how much time had passed, but as she caught a glimpse of her sister in her periphery, she became distracted. Katie was very still in a mass of dancing people. Her eyes were facing downward a little, but she didn't appear to be looking at anything particular. Head facing the other direction, at Katie's side, was Effy. Their hands were barely touching, but Katie's eyes were wide and kept flicking towards the space where their hands seemed to be frozen. _

_Just as quickly as they were there, they were apart. Effy's face seemed concerned for a moment, before she was once again her stoic self, in her own world, dancing as if she were from another planet. Katie looked to be stuck. She was swaying slightly with the music, but her eyes were focused completely on Effy. In between looks to the ceiling, showing nothing, Effy Stonem was staring back, for seconds at a time, just as intently, and was also looking a little...shy? She didn't know Effy very well, but she was sure that look didn't appear on her face very often._

_She felt Naomi turn around in her arms and her mind was taken away from Katie and Effy and focused back on the gorgeous blonde in front of her. She knew Naomi saw what she saw from the initial look on her face, but she shook her head, gave a confused smile, and shrugged, as they both seemed to be overwhelmed by the realization that they were so close. Any words Naomi had planned to say, about what they had seen, never came out._

_Emily thought that the music was slower, but it might have just been a heavier beat and the intoxicating presence of Naomi that made it seem that way_._ She gently nuzzled her nose against Naomi's as they swayed on the spot, slowly melting into one another. Naomi's hand was gliding up her back, painfully slowly, over her shoulder blades, until they were at the back of her neck. She felt her head being cradled gently, held steady as Naomi's eyes became intense, staring directly into her own, glancing at her lips, as she leaned in._

_As their lips met, she knew that she would never have a kiss like this with anyone else for as long as she lived. She didn't know if her and Naomi would last forever. And she couldn't be certain that neither of them wouldn't screw it up. But she knew that this is what people searched for. Her taste was intoxicating. Naomi's lips were so unbelievably soft. It was as if they were made to fit Emily's perfectly. Her heart swelled in her chest as she was lost in the best kiss of her life._

"_All my ladies all in one place!" Cook came out of nowhere, giving a slight shock to Emily's senses. She had been lost to the rest of the world for a moment. "SHOTS!" She felt Cook's arm around her as she was swept toward the kitchen. She would have been angry had she not been in such a love-filled haze. Even an interruption to the most magnificent kiss ever could not damper her mood at this point. She was still standing next to Naomi; still touching her. That seemed to keep her in a blissful state. Effy and Katie following closely behind and she remembered what she had seen earlier. She began to pay as much attention as she could to the two of them, which proved difficult as Naomi was continually stealing touches and kisses whenever she could._

_Cook stood appraisingly in front of the liquor selection on the kitchen counter. "Pick your poison, ladies." _

_Katie glanced up questioningly at Effy, who simply shrugged. Katie scoffed. Emily couldn't help but smirk at her sister._ _Katie had gone through her 'drink-anything-with-any-alcohol-content' phase for a solid five years. When she went to school, she became very specific about her alcohol standards, making sure that everyone knew that those standards were high, especially in her work circles._

"_Please! I'm not drinking that shit." She scoffed as she pointed to table, which was, admittedly, full of cheap liquor. _

"_My brother was in town last night and we finished off anything that wasn't shit." Effy shrugged. It didn't seem that she cared one way or another. But Emily could see the ghost of a smirk playing across her lips. "If I'd have known..." It was spoken so lowly, Emily barely heard her. Effy still didn't seem very interested in the subject, but her eyes were boring into Katie. Naomi and Cook were chatting quietly to each other about something by then and Emily was faced slightly away from Katie and Effy. She was almost positive that Katie didn't think anyone else noticed anything was off. Naomi and Cook certainly didn't. But Emily had heard Effy's voice. She was so confused as to what was going on, but she felt that she should probably not let them know she had heard it, as she watched the reaction. _

_Effy smirked towards Katie, tilting her head. Katie's cheeks flushed but she recovered and continued on, a little louder than necessary. "I would rather not take something that will make me vomit just to get fucked up. If I'm gonna get fucked, I want to get fucked properly, yeah?"_

_Everyone was silent for a moment, before they burst into laughter, including Effy, who was laughing louder than Emily had ever heard her laugh. She glanced at Naomi and saw a bewildered smile on her face as she watched. Cook raised his hands over his head and, instead of speaking, simply winked towards Naomi, and ducked away. He disappeared and reappeared just as quickly with a very expensive bottle of tequila. "Cookie has posh friends too, ladies." _

_They all took two shots and sat around the kitchen table for a while, as the party's crowd began to die down. They sat there, just talking and laughing. Panda and Thomas showing found them eventually, and were offered a seat. Soon after, Freddy made an appearance, and everyone was having a good time. Surprisingly enough, Katie and Effy seemed to be talking more than anyone, with each other. It wasn't out of the ordinary to see Katie talking to anyone. She was a fairly social person, weather she was acting like a bitch or just trying to be her version of friendly. But Effy seemed to be just as engaged, and seeing as she wasn't usually so verbal, it was interesting. Suddenly Cook tried to interrupt during what he seemed to think was a lull in their conversation. "So Katiekins, you are the only one here who hasn't seen us perform yet? Are you going to come see one of our shows?" Emily realized that Katie was in between Cook and Effy at the table. She wasn't particularly close to Effy, physically. In fact Katie's side was pressed against Cook's arm and Effy's back was partly resting on Naomi's. They were both much closer in proximity to other people. Emily thought Cook might even be taking that as a sign that Katie was into him. But Emily could see the simmering tension between Effy and Katie; their body language,; their occasional flustered grins and hand grazes. Cook was, completely obliviously, being far more overtly flirty with her sister, putting his hand on her arm as he spoke, and having far fewer results._

_When Cook said 'our shows' he nodded towards Effy, and Katie was lost to him. She looked toward the brunette. "You are in a band?_"

_Naomi spoke up, "They are actually really good. Eff plays the keyboard and writes a lot of their original stuff and Cook sings..."_

_Katie, clearly, could not care less what Cook did. She stopped listening. Effy had all of her attention. Emily thought her sister might be slightly more than tipsy than she originally thought, otherwise she was sure she might be a little less obvious. Though she wasn't positive. She hadn't spent much time with her sister in a while. She hadn't really spent much proper time with her in the past year. It was mostly her own fault. Katie was busy and had her own personal things she had been going through, but Emily had been such a shut-in for the past year. She didn't know why she had been that way for so long, but she knew she felt guilty now that she seemed to be coming out of it. It was clear that Katie was different than she used to be; much different. But she was still so Katie-like, Emily didn't always think about it. Right now, despite the completely out-of-character actions, Katie looked the happiest she had seen her in a while. She was very at ease, more so than Emily had ever remembered her being. This was the Katie that pretty much only Emily had seen much of. Katie had always put on a mask for people, but Emily didn't always seem to count. Or maybe she just saw through it, being her twin. But right now, she didn't seem to be wearing one at all. _

_Eventually, Cook realized his efforts were futile with everyone at the table and disappeared on the dance floor with a bleached blonde girl who was completely into him._

_As time passed, most of the people at the party were just sitting around talking. Emily found herself with Naomi on the dance floor again. Though, they were the only people still dancing, so really, it was, once again, just a living room. But Emily didn't care where she was. Naomi was as close as she could possibly get to Emily, and she was dancing slowly into the blonde's front. Every part of her was melting into Naomi. And Emily had no problem with that. Naomi's breasts were pressed against her back. Her long, toned arms were reaching around, resting her palms against the front of Emily's thighs. She couldn't decide if she wanted to focus more on Naomi's hands sliding slowly upwards, or Naomi's breath on her neck and ear. It all seemed like too much and not enough._

_For just a moment, Emily opened her eyes and saw her sister across the room. Her body was on autopilot, still moving naturally with Naomi, focused on her completely, but her brain was having trouble believing what she was seeing and it had a glitch for a moment. In the kitchen, where they were all alone, she saw Effy and Katie. Effy was standing extremely close to her sister, whose back was against the counter. Effy slowly reached her hand up to move some of Katie's hair out of her eyes. The twins face was red but she shyly looked back into Effy's eyes just as determinedly as Effy was looking at hers. They were staring at each other for so long. Emily felt that she should look away. Like she was intruding on an extremely private moment. The decision was made for her as she felt Naomi's tongue on her ear. She released a deep, throaty noise, almost a growl, as her eyes slammed shut._

_The alcohol, combined with Naomi's actions, filled Emily's brain with a euphoric fog once again and the rest of the night descended blissfully into a love filled haze of dancing, touching, and kissing, until they could keep there eyes open no more._

Waking up on the floor in an unfamiliar place had not happened to Emily since University. It was strange. She meant to leave the party at some point last night, take Naomi home, and finally be as close as she could be to Naomi, after waiting for so long. But they got so caught up in drinking and dancing, and just having fun with everyone that they ended up just passing out.

Emily looked towards Effy again and had a strange desire to go and talk to her. The conversations had with Effy, up to this point, had all been a bit off-putting. But this was one of Naomi's best friends. One of the most important people in the her life. She turned to look at the sleeping blonde next to her. She was so beautiful Emily ached. Her hair was in a mess and she had the ghost of a smile on her face, like she was having a pleasant dream. Her arm was still wrapped warmly around Emily's waist. Emily leaned over slowly to plant a gentle kiss on the blonde's forehead, before slowly slipping out from underneath the blanket, making sure Naomi was completely covered, before she headed towards the back door, grabbing Naomi's coat off of the back of a chair and wrapping it around herself.

As she opened the door, she expected Effy to turn or be startled. But she just sat there, as still as she had been, staring out into the back yard. She was wrappedin a blanket, under which, she had her knees pulled into her chest, with one arm wrapped around them, the other straight out in front of her, holding what Emily now realized, was not a cigarette, but a spliff. It explained why the smoke seemed to be lingering a little longer than normal, making Effy look more like some sort of mythical being.

She sat down in the chair next to Effy. They sat there for a few minutes in silence before Effy extended the spliff towards Emily, offering her a hit without even looking in her direction. Emily took it, inhaling deeply and slowly, and passed it back. They sat for a few moments before Effy spoke.

"How did you make Naomi like this?"

Emily was surprised at the question. She had heard from several sources that Naomi used to be much different. Not knowing her before, she wasn't clear on exactly how she was different, but apparently she was. Emily was different, as well and Emily knew that was Naomi's doing. Emily had thought about it before, she just didn't know why Effy was asking her about that right now. She decided to answer anyway. She followed Effy's lead, not looking at her, keeping her eyes ahead of her, where she could see the horizon, over the houses, getting slightly lighter very slowly.

"I don't think I changed her or anything." Emily thought about it for a second. "I think we both changed each others'_ lives_ and how we see those lives. But if it's the same for her as it is for me...I feel like the best version of myself when I'm with her. I feel like everything makes so much more sense with her. If it's like that for her...well, she's just happy. We're happy. If it's the same for her..." Emily had a sinking moment of doubt. What if Naomi wasn't as happy with Emily as Emily was with her? The thought terrified Emily. It was a fear she had never experienced before.

"It is." Those words were calming, coming from Effy. Emily knew that she was a little paranoid because she had smoked a little, but it was still strange to Emily to feel that way. She knew it was true. She trusted Naomi when she said that it was. Hearing it from Effy as well was comforting.

Finally she glanced over at Effy, who was looking back. Emily was very surprised to see actual confusion in Effy's eyes. She thought about what happened the night before. Thought about how it might be affecting Effy. Thought what that might have to do with this conversation.

"I think its impossible to believe that something like love is real until something forces you to. Then, you cant really believe in anything else." Emily turned her eyes back to the horizon. "But it's really fucking scary. Some people can just turn everything around in an instant. No one is immune."

She didn't know what else to say about it. She didn't know what was happening with her sister and Effy, or if she imagined the whole thing, so she didn't know if there was some sort of advice she was supposed to give. Nothing she could say would really help, so she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"I've never seen her smile like that before."

They both knew that Emily wasn't talking about Naomi any more, but neither said anything. Emily saw Effy's mouth curl into a small smile.

They sat in silence once more, both feeling the effects of the spliff, soaking in the sunrise.

"You Fitches are quite strange."

Emily glanced back at Effy, seeing her face much more relaxed than it had been when she first stepped outside. She didn't respond, but simply chuckled lightly.

"I'm gonna go lay down for a bit before everyone wakes up. You coming in?"

"I'm good here for now."

Emily left Effy to ponder, whatever she was pondering, alone on the porch. She made her way back inside. She quickly shed the coat and snuggled under the blanket against Naomi, the warmth of her skin instantly making Emily never want to leave it.

She quickly dozed off. Happy.


End file.
